What Dreams May Come
by Flying Zuccini
Summary: This is the requested sequel of What Could Have Been, please read that one-shot first!  Hermione and Draco begin to have dreams about each other.  At first they think nothing of it, but soon events from the dreams start to come out in their real lives.
1. Chapter 1

AN: This is the sequel to what was originally meant to be a one-shot. I never intended to make this into a full story, but it was requested so much in the reviews that it got me thinking about how it could be a full-length story. Over the next few days I couldn't stop thinking about it and new ideas kept popping into my head, so I decided to write it. I hope you all enjoy this as much as you thought you would!

Chapter 1

Draco snuggled closer to Hermione in her sleep. A familiar smile began to grow on his face; Hermione always fell straight into sleep after really good sex. Draco chuckled softly, his wife slept _a lot_. He could hear the faint sounds of her deep breathing and feel every one of her curves pressed against him. How did he get such a perfect life? This wonderful wife, their beautiful kids, it was all so perfect that it was almost like an overindulged dream.

Draco could still remember vividly how it had all happened. After the war was over and his parents had been given their freedom, there was the matter of what to do for all of those students who still needed to finish their final year at Hogwarts. Many students hadn't been there during seventh year at all, and those that had hadn't done very much learning. It was decided that another year of schooling would be offered to any students that wanted it.

Draco was the only student from Slytherin to return. Many of his other classmates had gone into hiding with their families and others just had no desire to return to the school. Draco felt differently, he wanted to finish off his education and actually get a job in the Wizarding world. Now that his parents were acting normal again and Voldemort's reign was over, he didn't have to worry about being a Death Eater anymore and serving anyone but himself for the rest of his life. He could actually do something with his life.

Potter, Granger and Weasley were there of course, along with a large number of other Gryffindors. Draco remembered that there were fewer students from other houses than he had expected. Many of the parents didn't want their children returning to school at all, let alone Hogwarts. Hogwarts' reputation would be tainted for many years to come even though none of the offending teachers were still there. Some parents sent their children to other Wizarding schools for their seventh year, some even in America Draco had heard.

The class schedule had been cut down as well, with no electives given to these returning students. The only classes that they took were Defense Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Charms, Transfiguration, History of Magic, Herbology and Astronomy, just the basic core classes that had been offered since first year. There was one other change as well. Since so many students had not returned, all of the seventh year students were placed into the same class for each of their seven core subjects and they all had the same free period. This meant that Draco had to see Potter, Granger and Weasley all day long.

A strange thing had happened though, the students became a much more close-knit group. It may not have gone as far as Dumbledore had envisioned, the members of opposing houses did not become best friends overnight, but they did get along much better than ever before. Draco had still found himself jealous of Hermione's brains, it had been ingrained in him his whole life to be the best at everything, including school. It had taken him a few months back at Hogwarts to realize that he only needed to do as well as he wanted too, not as well as his parents wanted him to do.

His parents had gotten very lucky after the war ended and had somehow managed to avoid going to Azkaban. They, of course, had Harry Potter to thank for this. Draco knew that if Potter hadn't stood up for them and said that they had secretly been working against Voldemort for a while, they would have gone to jail along with a great number of other Death Eaters. This was an embarrassing but very true fact and Draco had confronted Potter on the first day of school to thank him for it.

But back to Hermione. Draco hadn't actually had much more contact with her during his last year at Hogwarts than he had in previous years. In fact, he had probably said less to her in that last year, since he wasn't throwing taunts and insults at her. He had mostly been ignored by the other students during that last year. They hadn't known what to make of him, although his parents had been declared innocent, they still were not ready to trust someone from a known Death-Eater family.

Potter's group had been surprisingly welcoming to him. Well, maybe _welcoming _wasn't exactly the right word. They hadn't lorded it over him that not only had they saved his life twice during the final battle, but they also had allowed him to remain free and for his parents to as well. They gave him a wide berth usually, but did acknowledge his existence with a smile or nod of their heads in the hallways.

No…It had been after Hogwarts that Draco had found himself getting close to Hermione. It was because of the line of work that he had gone into that led her to be on the doorstep of his office on that cold morning in January. He could still remember it like it was yesterday, seeing her standing there bundled up in a warm coat, scarf, hat and mittens. Her cheeks were a painful looking red and he could still remember the unattractive sound of her sniffling her nose every few seconds.

He had almost been rude to her, he was so used to his old Hogwarts ways, had almost asked her what she was doing on his doorstep. He quickly remembered that he was different now, an effort that had been harder for him than he thought it would. He quickly invited her in to see what it was that she wanted from him, or perhaps what he could get from her.

Draco looked up from his thoughts and over at his wife. She was still sleeping soundly beside him. He hadn't known it at the time, but that first day would set the steps in motion to get him to this moment that he was in now. He was still staring at Hermione as he drifted off to sleep as well.

* * *

><p>Draco woke up on a couch. He squinted in the bright light coming in the window as he sat up, rubbing his head. It took him a moment of confusion to realize that he had dozed off on the couch in his office again. He looked at the clock on the wall, it was nearly noon. He would have been at work for nearly four hours by now, but if he was being honest with himself, he didn't even remember coming to work this morning. The only thing he did know was that he was having the dream again.<p>

Oh, of course, it wasn't the same dream, but it might as well have been. It was always the same concept: he was happily married to Hermione Granger, living in a beautiful home with their two even more beautiful children. He couldn't figure out why he had been having these dreams for the last few months. Sometimes they were newlyweds, sometimes the kids were just being born, sometimes the dreams only lasted a few moments, and sometimes they seemed to go on for hours. One thing that they all had in common though was that they felt incredibly real.

He felt totally submerged in the dream, as if this really was his life. He always felt disoriented and exhausted after waking from the dreams. This dream had been a little different though, with all of those memories at the end. Draco always had memories in the dreams, that wasn't unusual. The difference was, his dream self had been reminiscing.

The strangest part of all was that some of the memories _were_ Draco's own. All of those memories of Hogwarts had actually happened: his parents had escaped jail, the Golden Trio had been nicer to him, he was the only Slytherin to go back etc. Despite all of that, Draco had no recollection of a cold January morning in which Hermione Granger showed up at his door. As far as he could remember, he hadn't seen Hermione since Hogwarts, that's why it was so strange for him to be dreaming about her now.

There was one cold winter day that Draco _could_ remember. He got to his feet and walked over to his overcrowded desk. The cold day that he was thinking of though had happened in December. It was the day before Christmas and he had been on his way to his parents' for a visit. When he had gotten there, he found their house swarming with Aurors.

"What's going on?" he had called, running up to the house.

"Sorry, Mister Malfoy," one of the Aurors had said. "It's best if you back off."

"What's going on?" he had repeated in a firmer voice, these people had needed to know that he meant business or they wouldn't have told him anything.

"Your parents are being placed under arrest," the Auror had finally said.

"What?" Draco remembered being outraged. "They were declared innocent a year and a half ago!"

"I'm sorry Mister Malfoy, I really can't say anymore."

Draco hadn't been allowed to remain in the house or to see his parents. All he had been able to get out of the Aurors at the time was that there had been additional evidence brought against his parents and that someone had decided to press charges against them. Now four years had passed and he was no closer to getting them out of jail than he was before. He didn't even know who had pressed the charges against them, though it could be any number of people.

He shifted through the stacks of paper on his desk with a groan. He was getting farther and farther behind on his caseload. He was a powerful lawyer in the magical world, not one that anyone wanted to mess with. He didn't have many clients that he was letting down by falling behind, just himself.

He had dedicated his career to coming up with enough evidence to fight a case against the Death Eaters that he knew had remained loyal to Voldemort until the end. The Death Eaters who were guilty but living nice normal lives while his parents were stuck away in Azkaban. Of course this hadn't been his original goal when becoming a lawyer. He knew that he wanted to do something to counter his years of working with Death Eaters and with Voldemort. He had started out by trying to get people who had been greatly affected by the war cash settlements. He wanted to try and give these people closure. Whether that meant getting them money to rebuild a home, or to bury a dead loved one, or just to get themselves back on their feet, that's what he had started out doing.

In the last four years since his parents had gone back to jail he hadn't taken on many new cases, only a few very severe ones. He had spent all of his time obsessing over these Death Eaters that he knew didn't deserve what they had right now. The most frustrating thing was that he had files built up that would send at least four of them to jail…If they could be found. Death Eaters had just become too damn good at hiding over the years. Draco would be lucky if the Aurors ever found them.

He rifled through the papers again, he could never find anything on this desk! He finally gave up with a mumbled curse and turned to the computer in front of him. The Wizarding world had no use for computers, they used magic to store everything. Draco's problem was, he had never been very good at using those magical storage systems and spells. A colleague had advised him that maybe he should go the muggle route and get a computer. He had been told that it would be virtually unhackable by wizards, they just didn't utilize the technology. It was an almost guaranteed way to keep his files secure.

He had spent the better part of the last month trying to organize his files on this computer. It was slow going. He had developed a spell that would instantly record his written work onto the computer, but that only helped a small amount. Draco hadn't been very organized up until this point. As evidence, the filing cabinet opposite his desk was nearly empty. The whole office was full of piles of paper. He could easily get all of the paperwork onto the computer, but he had yet to find a way to organize it magically once it was there.

He clicked open a file on the computer and glanced through it again. It was a highly categorized list of everyone that he could think of that would want to press charges against his parents. The list had hundreds of names on it and it had been greatly narrowed down over the years. He scrolled through the list for what felt like the millionth time, hoping that a name would pop out at him. He had originally had Harry Potter at the top of the list, who else could be more likely to want to put Death Eaters in jail? That didn't add up though, why would Potter have fought for his parents' freedom in the first place if he was just going to put them in jail a year and a half later?

With a groan of frustration he jabbed a finger at the computer monitor, sending its screen into blackness. He could do better things with his time than sit here staring at the same old list of names. He needed some fresh air anyway. He reached into a drawer at the bottom of his desk and pulled out a folder that was starting to look dusty.

It was all of the evidence that he had gathered on a notorious Death Eater. It would be enough to put this villain away for life and would probably get them the Dementor's Kiss. That was, if they could ever be found. It was time for Draco to go and pay a visit to the Aurors.

* * *

><p>Draco took his time getting to the Ministry of Magic. He apparated partway and then walked the rest of the way. He was still having trouble getting this latest dream out of his head. This one had lasted longer and had felt even more real than any of the others. Not just the memories at the end, but all of it had been incredible.<p>

He had always worried that he wouldn't be a good parent. His parents had tried but his childhood had been…unusual to say the least. He could tell that his dream self at least was a fabulous father. He was the kind of father that made pancakes and begged his wife to let him to take the kids flying, even if only for a half an hour. He was the kind of father whose kids actually wanted to spend time with him. His father hadn't always been that way.

Thinking of his father brought his thoughts to something else in the dream, something that he had almost forgotten up until this moment. He had seen his mother in this dream. His parents were in the highest security section of Azkaban, they were not allowed to have visitors. Sure, Draco could write to them and they could write back, but that was all. He hadn't seen their faces or heard their voices until this morning when he had dreamed of his mother.

Thinking on it now, it was so real. He didn't have any children so he had never seen his parents as grandparents, but he knew they would be good ones. They might not have been the best parents to him, but that had been distracted by other things while he was growing up. Now that Voldemort was gone and the Death Eaters were disbanded, they would have the time to dote on grandchildren in a way that Draco knew they would love.

He clutched the folder to his chest as he approached the Ministry of Magic. Rodolphus Lestrange was one Death Eater who certainly deserved to go to jail for the things that he had done. He was the husband of Bellatrix Lestrange and had somehow managed to escape during the final battle while his wife was being killed. Draco couldn't remember seeing him during the battle and assumed that he had taken the coward's way out and left at the soonest possibly opportunity. Draco feared that many Death Eaters and supporters had done this, thinking that they may not end up being the winners of the fight. This meant that the people he was trying to put in jail were not only evil but also cowards.

He stepped into the dingy red phone booth and punched in the code 62442 (MAGIC). He waited only a moment before the voice filled the small space asking him to state his name and his business at the Ministry of Magic.

"Draco Malfoy, here to check in with the Aurors," it sounded vague, but since he was here so often, that was all it took to gain access.

His silver badge was dispensed and he pinned it on to the lapel of his suit. The floor began moving below him almost immediately and he waited while he made his descent into the atrium. The platform hit the floor with a soft 'whoosh' noise and Draco stepped out. He could hear the lift going straight back up to the inside of the telephone booth many stories above.

The Ministry wasn't as busy at this time of day as it often was. It was Monday and around lunchtime after all, there were not many witches or wizards coming through or leaving through the fireplaces at the front of the atrium. Draco walked quickly through, he had business to attend to, he wasn't here to watch other people coming and going.

He eyed the security gate, he could see Eric Munch reading a paperback novel, there were no other people queued in front of him to check in their wands. Draco made for the station, thrusting his wand at the wizard as he approached.

"Well, good afternoon to you too, Mister Malfoy," Munch said, taking his wand from him. "In a hurry as usual?"

"I'm always in a hurry Eric, you know that," Draco sighed.

"Well, all done registering, here you go then," the old man said to him, handing his wand back.

Draco smiled and took it from him. He spun around and walked away. He dropped some coins in the fountain on his way past and then headed straight for the lifts. The lifts were surprisingly empty as well. Draco couldn't remember a time that he had ever gotten into an empty lift, there was always at least one person in there going somewhere.

He shrugged to himself and pushed the button for the second floor: The Department of Magical Law Enforcement. The lift stopped on the first level and Draco moved back in the elevator, expecting some people to get on. Once again though, he didn't see any people. Waiting in the hallway were what looked like hundreds of the paper airplane-shaped memos that traveled around the Ministry like any other inhabitant. Draco looked up, there were so many of them that they crowded layer after layer in the top of the lift. Draco had never seen so many of them. How were there possibly this many memos going out when the Ministry seemed to be deserted? What was going on here today?

The lift rose to Level two and the door opened. Draco stepped into the corridor and was surprised to find that all of the memos came zooming off into this floor, which also appeared to be deserted. Draco walked down the hall, catching a glimpse out of the magic-induced windows as he passed. As usual, they showed weather that was nothing like the weather actually outside. In the distance of one window, Draco thought he could see a tornado ripping its way through a house.

Draco headed straight for the Auror Headquarters and entered without knocking. The Aurors all knew who he was by now and none of them were surprised by his presence in their department anymore. When he stepped through the door, he was shocked at the sight. He now knew why the Ministry seemed to be so deserted. It seemed that every witch and wizard that worked there was inside this room.

Draco looked around for the one person he needed, the one person who would always be totally honest with him and tell him what the hell was going on. It took him a minute in the crowded room but he eventually located that ever-familiar face.

"Potter," he said striding over to the man.

"Malfoy!" Potter said, his green eyes lighting up. "I was just about to owl you!"

Every time Draco saw Harry Potter he was shocked by how little he had changed since Hogwarts. You would think that the stress of having the world on your shoulders would age you a little, but not Potter.

"What's going on in here?" Draco practically had to shout over the noise.

"I wish I had owled you sooner, I need you to bring me Rodolphus Lestrange's file!"

"I have it right here," Draco said feeling confused. "I finally completed it and I thought I would drop it off for you to put into your file of unfound Death Eaters."

"He's not unfound anymore," Weasley said, coming up behind Potter.

"What?" Draco said, a sense of disbelief crawling over him.

"Lestrange, we caught him this morning, he's in a holding cell right downstairs," Potter said.

"You're fucking kidding me right?" Draco said, a grin spreading on his face.

"Nope, we finally caught the bloody bastard," Ron said.

"You've finally got yourself a case Malfoy," Potter said, clapping him on the shoulder. "Now get this asshole to Azkaban and the Dementor's Kiss!"

* * *

><p>AN: Wow, it's been a while since I sat down and wrote something out like that, all in one shot. You know you've read and written too much Fanfiction on your computer over the years when your Microsoft Word doesn't underline words like Auror or Hogwarts or even apparated and or the last name Lestrange and it automatically capitalizes Ministry of Magic. Really, it's rather impressive how many Harry Potter words have been added to my dictionary over the years<p>

Anyway, a new chapter should be coming soon, I hope you enjoyed this one!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Hermione stared down at the test in disbelief. How was this possible? After five long years, how could she have possibly gotten pregnant now? She and Ron had been told, after they had so much trouble conceiving in the beginning, that he was unable to have children. It seemed that an old injury had taken that ability from him. At the time of the injury, Ron hadn't thought anything of it. He hadn't even told Hermione about it until the possibility that this was the cause had come up in the questioning with their doctor.

And now, somehow she was pregnant. It must be Ron's since she hadn't cheated on him, she had never been with another man. Not really anyway…The dream didn't count obviously. It was just a dream. No, something must have happened. Ron would need to be tested, maybe his injury had healed after all this time and the damage had somehow been reversed. That was the only logical explanation for this.

And yet, something about that dream still unsettled her. She just could not stop thinking about it and not just because of the sex. It had been such an amazing dream, being married and so happy, with those two beautiful kids. She loved Ron, but that dream had planted a seed of doubt in her about her own marriage. She had never been as blissfully happy with Ron as she had been in that dream with Draco.

Now that she was pregnant, she should be happy. She had thought that their lack of children was what was holding her back from being truly at peace with her life. She had a great husband, a wonderful job that challenged her everyday and now she was pregnant. The problem was she just didn't understand how it could have happened. Ron's injury was…extreme to say the least.

She sighed, as embarrassing as it was, she had accepted it. Ron had had his right testicle blown right off by a stray shot during the final battle. He, and his doctor at the time, had thought that the other one was fine. It wasn't. She was the only one that knew. He hadn't told Harry or his mother (which was why Molly couldn't believe that the problem was with Ron and not Hermione). She had come to terms with the fact that she and Ron would never have children, this new revelation had sent her reeling.

Hermione looked at the clock. It was four, hopefully Ron would be home soon so that she could tell him the good news. Even though it was Saturday, her husband was at work. Hermione worked a regular Monday-Friday job at the Testing Centre. Ron was an Auror and worked very long and unusual hours. He had left for work this morning before the sun was up and certainly before Hermione was.

Thinking of her job brought another conclusion to Hermione. She would need to call her boss and let him know that she wasn't going to be able to work in the lab for the next nine months or so. She hoped that she would still be able to do some work from home.

Hermione loved her job. She had started at the Testing Centre right out of Hogwarts as the Assistant Chief Potions Tester. While in Hogwarts, Hermione hadn't put too much thought into what career she would have after Hogwarts. People had always assumed that Hermione would go into something obscure and brainy. Hermione wanted to have a job that would continuously be challenging her. This job certainly did that. It gave matter to her brain that she just couldn't get anywhere else, especially being married to Ron.

Of course, Ron was by no means stupid, he just didn't offer Hermione the substance of conversation and intellect that she needed. He didn't understand a lot of the things that she did, or he just wasn't interested. Either way, if Hermione did not have this job, she would have no true way of challenging her brain and letting it grow.

Being a potions tester might not sound that challenging, it wasn't as if she were actually inventing the potions. She had to admit though, some of them came in so messed up that it often felt as if they were inventing the potions. No, her key job was to test the potions and make sure that they were totally safe for public or private use. If anything was wrong with the potions, she had to tweak them and then test them all over again.

It was hugely gratifying work, especially with some of the breakthroughs in medical potions in recent years. Hermione found it fascinating. Ron found it dull. His perception of the subject of potions had been marred by years of learning the subject from Professor Snape, who had no patience whatsoever for any lack of diligence. In the last five years, Hermione had come to appreciate what Snape had been pushing on them all those years. Potions was extremely tedious work and should never be taken too lightly.

The problem was, potions testing was not something that she could safely continue to do in a lab while pregnant. There was, of course the danger of explosions in the lab, but her concern ran deeper than that. Some of the ingredients that they worked with could be very volatile and often reacted in unexpected ways. Also, new research was pulling out new facts everyday. Hermione had no way of knowing how any of the ingredients and potions that she was working with on a day-to-day basis could affect an unborn child.

She wanted to tell Ron before she told anyone else though. As soon as she had told Ron, she would have to make sure to contact the Chief Potions Tester and let him know that any work she would be doing for the next little while would be from home and from textbooks. She knew that her boss couldn't deny her, it was in her contract. Her boss might be a little angry though because he, like everyone else, was under the impression that Hermione would never be getting pregnant.

Hermione sighed, she would cross that bridge when she came to it. For now all she had to worry about was telling Ron that she was pregnant. She picked the pregnancy test up from the bathroom counter and walked out into the hallway of their modest house. She decided she would leave it on the kitchen counter, that way Ron would see it on his way in. She would wait in the bedroom, that way he could come straight in and they would make love to celebrate the good news.

* * *

><p>When Ron arrived home three hours later, Hermione was curled up on their bed reading a book. She heard the front door bang shut and the clang of Ron dropping his keys down onto the counter. Hermione put her book down and looked at the door with anticipation. Any second now Ron would come bursting through the doorway and pull her into his arms-<p>

"Hermione!" Ron said, bursting through the doorway.

"Hi Ron," she said, setting her book aside and giving him a big smile.

"You would not believe the day I've had!" he said, stomping over to the bed and beginning to unlace his boots.

"What?" Hermione said, ignoring the fact that she hated it when he wore his boots through the house.

"A Death Eater, Rabastan Lestrange, got away from us again today!" he said, throwing his arms up in the air in frustration. "We've been trying to catch this bastard for five years and this morning he was sighted in South Africa. He was living in a shack on a bloody mountain surrounded by natives, can you imagine?"

"No," Hermione said slowly.

"So, of course, we get a team together and get right over there and what do we find? He's torched the place, nothing left! So we spend the whole day trying to figure out where this asshole has gone, but of course he is so long gone by now the trail is totally dead. We're going to have to start tracking him all over again. I guess it was too good to be true to think that we could catch him just weeks after catching his brother," Ron put his head down.

Hermione didn't know what to say. She wanted to sympathize with the bad day that Ron had had, but this was supposed to be the most exciting day of their lives! She was finally pregnant, she wanted to tell him that!

"Did you see what I left on the counter for you?" she asked him.

"What?" Ron said, looking at her like she was crazy. "After everything I just told me about my day, you think I had time to look at the counter?"

"Sorry," she said. "I'm not being very sympathetic am I? I promise you though, what's on that counter is going to make all of the bad things about this day go away."

"Is it chocolate?" Ron said, looking over at her with a small smile.

"No, come on, I'll show you," she said, getting up from the bed and taking his hand.

Once in the kitchen it took Ron another few moments to look at what was sitting on the counter. Hermione wanted to grab him by the shoulders and shake him. She had waited hours for this moment and he was too worked up about a bad day at work to let her have it.

"What is that?" Ron said, eying the pregnancy test. "A thermometer?"

"It's a pregnancy test Ronald," Hermione hissed.

"What?" Ron looked at her, his eyes growing big.

Hermione snatched the test off of the counter and held it up in front of his face. There, now the excitement and the hugs and kisses would come. But Ron just stood with his feet frozen to the floor.

"I don't understand," Ron said after what felt like an hour.

"Neither do I, but I don't think it can be wrong. I'm pregnant Ron."

It was now that Hermione finally got her wish for the day. Ron swept her up in his arms and buried his face in her neck. He squeezed her tightly and she laughed along with him. He was as happy as she had hoped he would be. Why didn't she feel as happy as she thought she would be in this moment?

* * *

><p>Before Hermione had a chance to call her boss, she needed to whip something up for dinner. Ron, although he was very excited about her news, still had a very empty stomach that needed to be fed. Hermione put a pot of water on the stove, she could boil up some pasta quickly for Ron and then call her boss after.<p>

She could hear muffled voices coming from the other room. After she and Ron had celebrated together, he had immediately gone into the other room and stuck his head into the fireplace to call Harry. Hermione smiled to herself, one thing that would never change was the friendship that they all shared. She turned the burner on and then walked into the living room herself.

"Hermione!" Harry's voice came out of the fire. "Congratulations!"

Ron stepped back from the fire so that Hermione could see Harry's face in the fire. He was grinning from ear-to-ear. Harry had been sorry to hear that Ron and Hermione couldn't have children, even if he didn't know all of the details. He and Ginny already had one son as well as another baby on the way.

"Is Hermione there now too? Move over Harry!" Ginny's voice came through the fire behind Harry.

Hermione smiled as Harry's head was shoved to the side and Ginny's red head became visible. Her hair was so bright it looked like it was a part of the fire. She was grinning out at the two of them.

"Hermione!" she gushed. "When are you due, we're going to be pregnant together!"

"I'm not sure yet Gin, I just found out today," Hermione laughed.

They all talked and caught up for the next hour or so. Hermione ran back and forth between the fireplace and the kitchen to finish off Ron's dinner.

"You'd better not be too used to that Ron," Ginny cajoled him. "Soon she'll be the one sitting and you'll be waiting on her hand and foot!"

Hermione laughed and then explained to Harry and Ginny that they should probably go so that she could get that talk with her boss over with. They all said their goodbyes and Ron and Hermione promised to contact them as soon as they had anymore news. After Harry and Ginny were gone, Ron left the room so that Hermione could talk to her boss alone.

"Warn," she said, when he came into the fire.

"Hermione what's wrong?" he asked. He knew that she wouldn't contact him on a Saturday evening unless it was something important.

"Nothing is wrong Warn, quite the opposite in fact."

"And what's this?" The old potion master's eyes seemed to gleam as he asked.

"Ron and I found out today that we're pregnant, so I'm going to need some time off."

"I see," he said.

"Yes," Hermione said hesitantly. She was having trouble gauging what her boss was thinking.

"I thought that you and Ron couldn't conceive?" he asked, a look of confusion entering his wrinkled face.

"So did I," she said with a grin.

"Well, I can't deny you the leave of course," he said. "I hope that I can still count on you to do some work from home. If I send you reports would you still be willing to do the research from home?"

"Of course!" she said. "I'm going to need something to keep me busy for the next nine months!"

* * *

><p>And thank God she had that something. The first few weeks were very busy and exciting. They made many trips to the doctor, to get Hermione <em>and<em> Ron looked at. They also made many visits to their family to let them know what was going on and so that Molly could dote on her son. Since Hermione's parents were still living in Australia, she hadn't gone to see them, she had just called them on the phone.

After the war was over, Hermione had gone to Australia to fix her parents' memories and to bring them back to the UK. Her parents had been so happy and settled in Australia that they had decided to stay there and start up a new dental practice. Hermione was happy that they were so content there, but it meant that she didn't get to see them very often.

After all of the initial excitement of the pregnancy wore off, about a month after they found out and during the sixth week of her pregnancy, Hermione began to find herself getting very bored. She had never been as inactive as she was now. Sure, she was doing some minor research for the Testing Centre, but other than that she was doing nothing.

Ron was always at work and was increasingly exhausted by the time he got home. Hermione spent her day in the same way every single day. She tried to sleep in but usually ended up waking up at about nine in the morning. After she made herself a small breakfast, she got to work on the research that Warn sent her daily.

Usually it was pretty simple stuff. Since she couldn't do any lab tests, he mostly just sent her the lab results that he had found and asked her for any advice she could add to it. Sometimes he asked her to research the different properties of a certain ingredient. It was mostly just whatever little work he had that he himself didn't have time to do. Normally this work would be done by one of the lower assistants, but these assistants were too busy making up for the work that she would normally be doing.

Around noon she generally had all of that work completed. She spent the afternoon reading and cleaning up their house. Ron usually got home at six-o-clock or later, never earlier, so she would begin preparing their dinner around five-thirty. There were many nights recently though, that she ended up eating dinner alone and Ron had to heat his up when he got home.

Towards the end of the pregnancy, Hermione began to feel even more useless. She wasn't able to clean around the house anymore and she couldn't even really go out. She was too huge! She was miserable with no one to talk to all day and only Ron for company in the evenings.

The tests that the doctor had done on Ron had come back with strange results. As far as the doctor could tell, Ron should not have been able to impregnate his wife. The doctor was as baffled by the pregnancy as Ron and Hermione were. Ron never brought it up though, he just accepted that it was what it was and that they had been given some kind of miracle. He never accused Hermione of cheating and she was grateful for that.

Hermione never told Ron about the dream she had. It would have been too embarrassing to repeat and she knew that it would only hurt Ron's feelings to know she had dreams about other men, especially when that other man was Draco Malfoy. Ron would be outraged to find out about that. She still thought about the dream quite often though and she still couldn't remember having sex with Ron the night that the baby was conceived. She knew that it was impossible to have become impregnated by a dream, so the baby must be Ron's.

She thought a lot about the way she felt in that dream too. She hadn't even known what was going on for a good part of the dream, but she was still so content and happy, more so than she had ever been with Ron, even in the beginning of their marriage. Since feeling that in the dream she had started to notice more and more what was lacking in her marriage.

Ron was a good man, he just wasn't all that considerate sometimes. He loved her, but he usually thought about his own needs first. It wasn't that he was selfish, he didn't mean to make her feel that way. He just felt that the things he was doing were very important and he felt Hermione should feel the same way. It didn't matter that Hermione thought the things that she was doing were important too.

For example, if Ron came home after a very long day of work, he expected Hermione to sit and listen to him talk about his day. She did this because most of the time she enjoyed hearing about Ron's job and his day. The problem was, if she wanted to tell him about a difficult potion Warn had sent her or the research that she had done that day, he didn't want to hear it. It wasn't exciting enough to keep his attention occupied.

Little things like that had begun to eat away at Hermione for the last few months. She realized that nothing had changed about their marriage, they had always been this way. The problem was she was only starting to notice these things now. Hermione could only hope that things would change when the baby was born.

* * *

><p>AN: So I hope that you all enjoyed Chapter 2! Thank you all so much for the reviews and the encouragement! It really helps me get to writing. I don't like to make promises about when chapters are going to be released because I often have trouble keeping them, but for now I'm going to. The goal is to add a chapter every Tuesday evening, so look for them then! If that changes, I will let you all know!<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Hermione woke up slowly to the familiar feeling of her baby kicking her. She never imagined it would feel like this. At first it just felt like a muscle spasm. This far along in the pregnancy it actually felt like someone was flicking her stomach from the inside out. She felt Ron's arms tighten around her over-sized stomach. Actually, she thought, around probably wasn't the right word anymore, his hands didn't quite meet in the middle.

Looking at Ron's hands she noticed that his wedding ring had turned black. How had that happened? Ron's ring was white-gold but she had never heard of it discolouring so much that it became solid black. Now that she looked at Ron's hands closer, she wondered when they had become so slender. Did his fingers just look thinner over her large belly? Or was she…

Hermione immediately turned her head to look at the figure lying behind her. It wasn't Ron, it was Draco! She was dreaming again. She struggled to sit up, her stomach protruding awkwardly in front of her. Why was this happening to her? And why was it different this time, she hadn't been pregnant last time…

"'Mione," Draco mumbled in his sleep. "S'early, go back to sleep."

"Draco I-" She stopped abruptly because she suddenly felt something very different from her stomach.

"What's that? Hermione!" he yelled, getting out of the bed.

"My water broke!" she cried. "My water broke!"

"Ok," Draco said, clearly trying to calm himself down. "The bag, the bag, where's the bag we packed for the hospital?"

Hermione had no idea, obviously, where anything in this dream world was. She tried to pull herself up from the bed but Draco immediately whirled around to stop her.

"No!" he jumped over, holding a hand out as if to stop her. "You stay there, I'll find it!"

He began to spin in circles looking around the room for the bag. Hermione felt disoriented. Her body felt exactly the same at this moment as it had the day before, when she was with Ron. Yesterday had been her due date, she was ready to burst any moment. She didn't understand why her mind was giving her this dream now. What she going to go into labour when she woke up?

Watching Draco wandering the room frantically made her giggle. He was wearing nothing but a pair of black boxer shorts and she couldn't help but admire his backside as he bent over to look on the floor of the closet. She didn't know why she was having this dream, but she was enjoying it.

"You might want to put some pants on before we go," she said with a laugh.

"Right, pants."

Draco yanked a drawer open and pulled out t-shirt. He threw it over his head and tugged it down. Hermione could see the tag sticking up at the back of his neck, it was on inside-out. He opened the closet again and pulled out a pair of jeans, he quickly tugged them on then turned to her.

"Ready?" he asked breathlessly.

"Can you find something for me?" she asked, gesturing to her nightgown.

"Right, of course," he said, turning back to the closet. He pulled out a pair of jeans.

"How about these?"

"Those might have fit me during my fifth month. How about some track pants?"

Finally Draco managed to find her a pair of track pants and a loose-fitting t-shirt. He gently helped her take off her nightgown and get the clothes on. Hermione felt like she should be embarrassed to have a man who wasn't Ron to see her naked, but she quickly found that she wasn't.

"Ok, let's go," he said.

"The bag?" she asked.

"Shit!" Draco said, turning back to the closet. Hermione sighed.

"Accio bag!" she called, lifting her wand from the nightstand. The bag came flying through the door and landed on the floor in front of her.

"That's right!" Draco said, picking up the bag. "I left it on the floor in the hallway!"

* * *

><p>Hermione had been in labour for more than six hours. The contractions had started as Draco was helping her down the stairs to the fireplace. When they had reached St. Mungo's she had immediately been put in a wheelchair and rushed into this room. The pain was incredible. Hermione thought that she had felt pain before but all of that put together was nothing compared to what she felt right now.<p>

"It shouldn't be much longer now," she heard the doctor say.

"You're doing great 'Mione," Draco said, brushing the sweat-soaked hair from her forehead.

"I want-" she had been about to say that she wanted Ron when she realized that she didn't. Ron was still very much on her mind in this dream, but she found that she was entirely comfortable having Draco being the one sitting here and holding her hand. This was his baby after all.

"Ok, Hermione," the doctor called out. "Push!"

She squeezed Draco's sweaty hand and began to push. And push. And push. She pushed so hard that it felt like her insides were going to come out along with the baby. She felt like she was giving birth to an elephant. She was surely being ripped apart. Then she heard a cry.

"It's a girl!" the doctor called out.

Draco let out a breath so loud that it seemed he must have been holding it for hours and put his head down on Hermione's chest. She put a hand to his head and clasped him to her and as the baby was placed in front of him. Hermione stared at the baby's perfect little face and the blond curls on her head. How could this miracle have come out of her?

"You're amazing," Draco said.

"She's amazing," Hermione responded.

When Draco leaned down to kiss her lips she tried to imagine how this moment could be any more perfect and couldn't.

* * *

><p>Almost before she knew it Hermione and Draco were taking Diana home with them. Hermione slept while in the hospital and briefly wondered when she woke up still there, why she hadn't woken up back with Ron. This let her know that she truly had no control over this dream. She had assumed that she could get out of it by falling asleep, clearly this wasn't the case. The dream would be over when it was ready to be over.<p>

When they arrived back to the house, Hermione had a chance to look around in a way that she hadn't while she was on the way out the day before. It looked almost the same as the last time she had dreamt of it, perhaps a little neater. Also, the family portrait was missing from the landing, it had been replaced with a wedding photo of her and Draco.

Hermione paused on her way up the stairs with Diana to look at it. Her dress in the picture looked similar to the one that she had worn in her wedding to Ron. It looked more expensive, more like she had _wanted_ her actually wedding dress to look like. Draco looked gorgeous in his perfectly fitted black suit. The looks on their faces were ones of absolute bliss.

As she stepped into their bedroom, she noticed something that she had not noticed during either of the times she had been in this room before. On her side of the bed there was a door that was slightly ajar. She opened it and walked into the most amazing nursery she could ever imagine.

She and Ron had put together a cozy little nursery in their small home, but it was nothing compared to this. The first thing that she noticed was how light it was in the room. The room had been built on the corner of the house and two of the walls were filled with windows that let the afternoon sunlight pour in. The windows were covered in sheer white curtains with light pink ruffles covering the tops.

On the wall near the door was a black crib with a pink canopy over it. The bedding was pink and black and a mobile hung over it. Hermione walked towards it with Diana sleeping in her arms. The mobile had a broomstick, a snitch, a wand and a witch's hat hanging from it. On the wall above the crib Diana's name was spelt out in pink and black building block letters.

Close to the crib was a cushioned wooden rocking chair. Hermione sat down in it and found that it was completely silent while she rocked. The one that she and Ron had built creaked every time she leaned back in it. On the wall behind the rocking chair there were black wooden cutouts of stars and the moon. As Hermione sat in the chair she noticed that there was also a picture of her, smiling and very pregnant, mounted on one wall between two windows.

There was a fully stocked changing table with drawers full of diapers. A shelf beside it contained wipes and baby powder. Hermione noticed an odd looking canister on the ground and lifted the top of it. She immediately felt a soft sucking of air and realized that it was a garbage can that would pull the diapers right out of the room.

She walked to the huge black dresser with the pink detailing and pink handles and pulled a drawer open. It was packed with neatly folded baby clothing. Hermione pulled open all of the drawers and saw that everything was organized exactly the way that she thought it should be.

On the other side of the room was a small sitting area. There was a white loveseat, and a small cushioned table as well as a corner shelf that was full of stuffed animals and other baby toys. Hermione could picture herself sitting there with Draco and playing with Diana. Also, near the sitting area, Hermione noticed something else.

She bent down to touch the smooth, wooden rocking horse. The wood was so smooth and so polished, she could only imagine how many hours had gone into that. Looking at this horse, Hermione had the distinct feeling that it had not been made with magic. Yet, it was the most beautiful rocking horse Hermione had ever seen. She quickly realized that Draco must have made it and her heart warmed to him even more.

"Please don't be mad Hermione," she heard his voice softly behind her.

"Mad?" she said, turning around and facing him.

"Yes, I know that you wanted to keep Diana's crib in the bedroom and get the nursery built together after she was born, but I couldn't help myself."

"You did all of this yourself?" Hermione asked in disbelief.

The nursery was everything that Hermione could ever have wanted in a nursery and was organized in the way that she would. She had assumed that _she_ had put it together. She honestly couldn't imagine the Draco Malfoy that she had known at Hogwarts taking the time to so lovingly put together a room like this one.

"Yes, I had everything bought already and stored in the basement. I came home yesterday night while you were sleeping and put it all together and cut the door between our room and this. I wanted to surprise you."

"Draco, this is incredible," she said rushing over to him, trying not to jostle Diana in her arms. "I can't believe you did all of this for me!"

"You like it then?" he asked bashfully.

"Like it?" she asked with disbelief. "I love it. I couldn't have done it better even if I had done it myself."

"Let's put this baby to bed," Draco said, stroking Diana's soft forehead.

"I want her to wake up so I can look into her eyes," Hermione said quietly.

"You want her to wake up?" Draco said with a grin. "Let's relish this time of rest while we can!"

Hermione smiled back at him and walked over to the crib. She placed Diana down on the pink polka-dotted bedding and kissed her forehead. Draco checking the front wall of the crib to make sure it was secure and then put his arms around Hermione's waist. As she stared down at Diana, Hermione started to feel a tug in her stomach as if she were apparating. Everything in the room seemed to be getting smaller and smaller until it looked like she was looking down on a dollhouse with its roof cut off.

Hermione felt herself being pulled back from the dollhouse that was her house with Draco and slamming backwards into something soft. It was a bed. She looked to her right and saw Ron beside her, holding her hand. She heard a noise and looked down to find Diana on her chest. She was back in St Mungo's and she had just given birth to Diana.

How could she have been dreaming during that? Hermione felt a stab that was a mixture of fear and guilt. She had slept through her baby being born. The baby...Hermione brought her head back up to look at Diana. The infant was identical to the one that she had just given birth to in her dream. She hadn't slept through the birth of her daughter, she had just missed experiencing it with Ron.

* * *

><p>The next evening Hermione sat in the creaky rocking chair in their modest nursery. She held the tiny infant as she greedily nursed. Hermione contemplated the dream from the day before. She still couldn't bring herself to believe that this baby was Draco's. The fact that Diana had appeared to her in a dream exactly as she was now didn't prove anything. It simply meant that Hermione had had a premonition.<p>

Another reason that they could be nothing more than dreams was that Draco seemed to have no clue that anything was out of the ordinary during them. If they were some kind of mystical and real dreamscape, surely he would be as confused as she was by being there. But no, Draco was completely submerged in the dreams. He was a part of that world.

Diana had finished nursing by this point and Hermione was exhausted. She stood up from the rocking chair and stepped up to the wooden crib that Molly and Arthur had given them. She placed a now sleeping Diana into it gently and settled the blanket around her. Hermione shut the light off and left the room, leaving the door open. As she slipped into bed, she didn't notice Ron walking into the nursery and turning the light back on.

* * *

><p>Ron looked down at the innocently sleeping baby and his heart filled once again with doubt. As soon as he had found out that Hermione was pregnant, he had wondered if she had cheated on him. He quickly dismissed the idea from his head, Hermione would <em>never <em>cheat on him. He knew that he wasn't always the best husband, he didn't treat Hermione as well as he should, but he knew that she loved him.

He had held out hope that the doctors would find that somehow his injury had been reversed and that he would have been capable of making this child with his wife. After the doctor returned to say that he still believed this was impossible, that seed of doubt was once again planted in him. Without telling Hermione, Ron went to another doctor to get a second opinion in the hopes that the first doctor had been wrong as Hermione expected him to be. The second doctor told Ron the same thing as the first. His testicles had been so damaged his body should not be producing or storing sperm anymore.

Still, Ron had wanted to have faith in his wife that she had been faithful to him. He chalked it all up to a miraculous fluke. Hermione couldn't have cheated on him, so the baby must somehow be his. At this point he had even confided in Harry, finally telling his best mate why he and Hermione had been unable to conceive. Harry had reinforced the idea in his head that he had been given a gift and that he should just accept it and stop asking questions and doubting himself. He said that if Hermione got the idea that Ron was having these worries about her, that it would put a strain on their marriage and a stress on Hermione that she didn't need during the pregnancy.

Now, looking down on the sleeping Diana, Ron felt his heart silently breaking. The baby looked like Hermione that was for sure. She had Hermione's dark brown eyes and sloping nose. She looked nothing like Ron. All of his siblings' children had all come out with red hair. Diana's hair was so blonde that it was almost white. That certainly hadn't come from him or Hermione.

He felt a tear begin to roll down his cheek. He knew that this child was not his. He would try to treat her as if she was of course, she was his wife's daughter, but Ron knew in his heart that he was not this beautiful child's father. He loved his wife and didn't know what he would do without her guiding presence in his life. For now, Ron decided, he wouldn't bring the subject up with her.

* * *

><p>A few days later, Molly hosted a baby shower for Hermione and Ron at the Burrow. Many of their Hogwarts friends attended as well as all of the Weasleys and their children. Hermione sat next to Ginny on a couch. The redhead was cradling her own two-month-old baby, Albus. James was playing on the floor in front of her with his father. Ron was in the kitchen catching up with the rest of his siblings.<p>

"Her hair is so blonde!" Ginny said again. "It's strange the way old genes can show up isn't it? James's eyes are so blue, even though neither Harry nor I have blue eyes!"

"Yes, it's very strange," Hermione agreed, though she had no recollection of there being any blondes in her family.

"Now Hermione," Molly said, coming over with her arms open. "Stop hogging that precious child and hand her over to Grandma!"

Hermione laughed and placed Diana gently into Molly's waiting arms. It felt good to be here surrounded by family and friends. It almost drove the constant thoughts she was having about the dreams out of her head. Almost.

* * *

><p>Later in the afternoon, Ron was sitting with Harry in his old bedroom. The walls still had a slight orange tint to them even though Molly had painted over them with at least six coats of the beige that the walls were now. The room was now a study, full of books and an old desk in one corner. It was a seldom used room and provided just enough privacy for the conversation that Harry and Ron were currently having.<p>

"Blonde hair Harry, she has blonde hair!" Ron was insisted to his friend.

"It doesn't mean anything Ron. James has blue eyes. My eyes are green, Ginny's are brown. My parents didn't even have blue eyes. That doesn't mean that Ginny cheated on me," Harry insisted.

"Yeah well, James looks like you in every other way besides that," Ron grumbled.

"Yeah, and he looks almost nothing like Ginny. Diana looks just like Hermione, that's why she doesn't look like you," Harry reassured his friend.

"Blonde hair, Harry. Do you know of anyone in Hermione's family that has blonde hair?"

"Well no, but that doesn't mean anything!"

"Ok, maybe it doesn't. What about the fact that I can't bloody well have children!" Ron said.

"Just stop worrying about it Ron," Harry said, shaking his head.

"I can't stop thinking about it. I think Hermione is starting to suspect something too," Ron said with a sigh.

"Why would she be suspecting something?"

"Well, I haven't been able to help myself. I haven't been talking to her as much lately, or spending as much time with Diana as I should be. I just can't mate. Every time I look at that baby my heart breaks and then I just start thinking that Hermione cheated on me and I-" Ron cut himself off as he choked on a sob.

"Ron, I'm telling you," Harry said, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Don't worry about it so much. Hermione did not cheat on you."

"But she must have Harry!" Ron cried. "And who could blame her, I don't have any bloody testicles, I can't give her children, I can't do anything for her! Of course she is going to go looking for something somewhere else."

"That's not Hermione and you know it Ron," Harry insisted. "You know it."

"I don't know Harry, sometimes I feel like I don't even know her anymore. We have seriously drifted apart these last few months. Sometimes when I get home from work she is already sleeping. We go whole days without even speaking to each other sometimes. And I keep seeing her just staring off into space as if she is thinking about something, or _someone _else. I don't know what to do Harry, I think my marriage is falling apart here."

"It's not going to happen Ron. You two are meant for each other, you always were, since first year. She is not going to leave you," Harry insisted.

"It's not that. If I'm not satisfying her anymore, I don't know if I can stay with her. I don't want to hold her back from having a better life."

"She couldn't have a better life than what she has with you mate," Harry said, giving Ron's shoulder a squeeze.

"I just don't know anymore Harry, I don't know."

* * *

><p>AN: I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Hope everyone is having a good week as well. The plan is still for the next chapter to be up next Tuesday, Wednesday at the latest. Please leave a review to let me know what you think!<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

AN: my sincerest apologies that this chapter was not posted yesterday. Blame Labour Day, I thought that yesterday was Monday.

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 4<span>

After Diana's birth, Hermione quickly fell back into a routine and found herself enjoying her days at home alone with her child. In the evenings, when Ron was home, the air between them was tense at best. They hadn't discussed the ideas that she knew were running through his head. She didn't want to be the one to bring it up because she knew that she wouldn't be able to answer his questions with complete honesty.

She still didn't truly know what was going on herself. When she looked at Diana, she found that the infant did look very much like her. There was an awareness in Diana's eyes that Hermione had not expected to see there yet. Hermione spent a lot of her time just looking into Diana's face and trying to pinpoint any features that might be Draco's. The child clearly had her eyes and nose. The blonde hair was the most obviously feature that could be Draco's. Hermione spent hours studying the infant's mouth and ears looking for the defined jaw of Draco and the slightly pointed tips of his ears. She tried to ignore the results of those searches but there was no denying it: this child looked nothing like her husband.

By now it was August, Diana was four months old and Hermione was having trouble not seeing Draco in her anymore. She could only hope that Ron wouldn't notice the similarities between their daughter and his old nemesis. Hermione didn't think she would be able to bear it if Ron thought she had cheated on him with Draco.

She knew though, that even though neither one of them had brought it up, that it was coming at any time. Ron could hardly look at Diana and Hermione had stopped trying to get him to come and play with her. Ron began to work even longer hours and Hermione believed it was because he knew that Diana would be asleep by the time he got home. He often went to see Harry and Ginny on Sunday, his only day off. Hermione could only imagine what he and Harry talked about while she wasn't there.

They had not made love in nearly six months. Towards the end of the pregnancy, Ron had claimed that he didn't want to have sex until the baby was born. Since Diana had been born at the end of April, Ron had made no advances towards her. He barely gave her the odd peck on the cheek anymore.

Living together was becoming an elaborate dance. They avoided each other in the house almost without thinking now and made small talk during meals when they did eat together. Ron still told Hermione about his day at work, but he didn't seem as excited about the details anymore. They had successfully caught Rodolphus Lestrange nearly a year ago now, Hermione knew that the case was going to be entering the courtroom soon. Other than that she barely knew anything about it. She knew that a year ago this would have been something that Ron would have told her every single detail of.

Hermione could feel her marriage falling apart around her and she didn't know what to do. She still loved Ron, but she was beginning to wonder if she was _in _love with him anymore. She was still attracted to him, but wasn't terribly disappointed in their lack of sex life for the last six months. She wasn't sure that she wanted to save her marriage, she didn't know if it was worth saving.

Every time she started to think like that, she started to feel guilty. How could she just let her marriage go like this? She was happy, wasn't she? But that was a lie. She was happy in the time that she spent with Diana, but she hadn't felt happy in the time alone with Ron for months. She wanted to be happy and even more than that, she wanted Ron to be happy. If being apart meant that both of them would be happier, maybe that would be for the best. She just wasn't ready to be the one to suggest that.

She let the feelings and the dreams eat away at her for another month before she made a decision. She could hardly call it a decision though, she hadn't made up her mind about her marriage yet. What Hermione decided to do was see about answering some of her other questions, clearing up some of her own doubts. She hoped that by doing this she would finally be able to make that decision on her marriage.

So, on a windy August morning, shortly after Ron left for work, she packed Diana into her stroller and decided to pay Draco Malfoy a visit. She had looked up his contact information the week before when she had made her decision. He was a well-known lawyer now, a fact that Hermione had actually learned from Ron months ago. Hermione didn't think he would be in his office at seven in the morning and she wasn't sure it would be an appropriate discussion to have there anyway, so she decided to pay him a visit at home.

She didn't want to barge into Draco's home through his fireplace uninvited, but she also didn't want to apparate there with Diana, so she decided to take the train. It would take about three hours to drive to London from the Burrow and Hermione didn't have that kind of time. She would have to take Diana through the fireplace in order to get to King's Cross Station.

"Alright Diana, let's do this," she said as she threw the Floo Powder into the fireplace. "King's Cross Station!" she said as she wheeled the stroller through the now green flames.

The connection fireplace at King's Cross was in a small room that was disguised as a broom closet. Witches and Wizards traveled frequently by train, but there were always muggles around. It wouldn't do to have people appearing out of fireplaces in the middle of the bustling train station. Hermione dusted a bit of soot off of the top of Diana's downy head and pushed the door open.

She entered into the crowd immediately, trying to look as if she had always been there and hadn't just exited a broom closet with her baby. She looked around, the train station was surprisingly busy for this time of day. She eyed the line at the ticket booth. She was beginning to worry that Draco would have left for his office by the time she got to his house in Woodcroft.

The ticket booth was located a little ways away from platforms nine and ten, but Hermione could still see them clearly from where she stood. She didn't travel by train very often and it felt strange to be here and not going through the wall between the platforms to get on the Hogwart's Express. The line was moving very slowly so Hermione bent down next to Diana.

"Look Diana," she whispered, pointing to platform nine and three-quarters. "In eleven years, that's where you'll be going."

Diana clapped her hands and giggled at Hermione. Hermione smiled as well, sometimes it seemed that Diana could understand every word that she was saying. She wouldn't be surprised if one morning the child just woke up and starting speaking in full sentences.

When they were about halfway through the long line, Hermione heard someone call her name across the crowd. She turned her head and saw, to her horror, Neville Longbottom walking across the station towards her. She hadn't even thought of what she would say if she ran into someone she knew today.

"Hey Neville," she said with a smile. "How have you been?"

"Busy, very busy," he said with a smile. "Just a few more days left until school starts!

"How are you enjoying teaching at Hogwarts?"

"It's good," Neville said. "The school still isn't the same as it used to be, but it's getting better."

"And how's Hannah?" Hermione asked. She wanted to keep the conversation on Neville to avoid him asking her any questions.

"She's good too. She is really enjoying being the landlady at the Leaky Cauldron even though she has our two-year to run after all day."

"I'm not looking forward to the terrible twos," Hermione said, giving Diana a smile.

"Yes, I'd heard that you and Ron had a daughter now," Neville said, bending down to look at Diana. "She sure is blonde!"

"I know, don't know where it came from!" Hermione said with a familiar twinge pinching her heart.

"So where are you headed today sweet pea?" Neville directed the question at Diana.

"We're just going to see some family for the day," Hermione said. She could only hope that Neville would go away before she actually got up to the ticket counter. She didn't want anyone to know that she was traveling to Woodcroft today.

"Well, I should be going," Neville said as if he had heard her thoughts. "I'm off to Hogwarts for the day to get my office cleaned out and to air out the greenhouse."

"Oh," Hermione said feeling jealous. "I would love to visit Hogwarts again soon, I do miss it."

"Well, you and Ron should come out for a visit sometime. I'm sure that Minerva would love to see you. Anyway, I've got to run, tell Ron I said hello!"

Hermione waved as Neville walked away. As much as she hadn't wanted to run into anyone that she knew, it was always nice to talk to her old school friends. Besides Harry and the Weasleys, she didn't see very many of them anymore. Everyone had gone there separate ways after that last year at Hogwarts and sometimes Hermione missed the simplicity of having all of your friends in one place.

Hermione and Diana got to the front of the line just in time. The train for Woodcroft would leave in five minutes. Hermione was once again shocked that Diana had waited so patiently in that line for a half an hour. She hadn't slept or cried, she had simply looked at her surroundings, taking it all in. _My baby is going to be genius_, Hermione thought with a smile.

* * *

><p>It was almost eight in the morning by the time Hermione and Diana got off of the train in Woodcroft. Diana had quickly fallen asleep on the smooth moving train and Hermione had been able to catch up on some reading. Hermione glanced at the street sign that was right in front of the train station. She was on Main Street and if the research she had done was correct, she should be able to walk from here to Draco's house in less than ten minutes.<p>

"We'd better get a move on Diana," Hermione said with a sigh, pushing the stroller down the street.

Hermione was surprised by how nice and quiet a town Woodcroft seemed to be. For some reason she had pictured Malfoy as the kind of person who would live in the centre of a big city. London was so full of the magic world, she would have thought that he would want to be close to that.

This was quite the opposite. On Main Street there were some shops and a few restaurants, but once you got past that there wasn't much. The houses were very spread out and the properties were huge. This would be a nice place to raise a family though, it was secluded enough to give a growing family privacy, but close enough to civilization to be safe.

Hermione stopped in her tracks as she came to the front of the next house. It was the house from her dreams. She recognized the grey brick and the white shutters. The huge front porch was there, although the little breakfast table was missing. She could see the tower on the right side of the house which she knew contained a huge library. She could even see the shed in the field at the side of the house where she knew Draco kept his brooms.

"Unbelievable," she whispered. Diana cooed. "I can't believe that he actually lives here."

She didn't know why she was surprised that Draco lived in the house without her. The home had just seemed to be so much to her own tastes that she couldn't picture Draco living here and picking this house out by himself. She had imagined that, in the dreams, she and Draco had picked and purchased the house together. Hermione was beginning to think that she didn't know Draco Malfoy at all.

She turned Diana's stroller up the front walk. The porch only had stairs and Hermione didn't want to lug the stroller all the way up them. She was about to pull her wand out of her pocket and turn the stairs into a ramp when the front door opened. Hermione somehow managed to hold in her gasp.

She had come here today to see Draco but she had somehow failed to prepare herself for actually seeing him. He looked just like he did in the dreams, so different than he had looked in school. Hermione couldn't quite put her finger on it. His physical appearance was much the same as it had been in school without the slicked back hair. No, it was something in the way that he carried himself that made him seem so different. Rather than walking around like he owned the place, with his nose in the air, he seemed merely confident. He still exuded a certain power, but Hermione could tell that it was not something he was lording over people anymore.

"Excuse me?" Draco's voice interrupted her thoughts. "I don't take business at home. If you need legal assistance, I can make you an appointment so that you can come to my office. I can make the appointment for today if you need it."

"No, sorry," Hermione said, looking up and meeting his eyes. "I don't need legal assistance, I need to speak with you."

"Her-, er Granger?" he said, correcting himself before he used her first name. "Is that you?"

"Yes," she said, not bothering to correct him that it was actually _Weasley_ now. "I need to speak with you, you're going to think I'm crazy."

_Try me, _Draco thought. To Hermione, he just nodded. "Would you like to come inside?"

Without waiting for her to answer, Draco pulled his wand out and waved it at the stairs on the porch. "Flasticcio," he said and the stairs smoothed instantly into a ramp. Hermione smiled at him as she pushed Diana's stroller up the ramp. Draco glanced at the sleeping baby and Hermione could have sworn that she saw his face get a little paler.

She let Draco lead her through the front room and into the fireplace room that they had spoken to his mother in all of those months before. Hermione pretended to follow him like she didn't know where she was going. The house looked much the same, with only a few subtle differences in the décor.

Hermione sat down on a plush brown couch and leaned down to check on Diana. The baby was nestled comfortably in her stroller and appeared to be sleeping soundly. Hermione sat back up to find Draco staring at her expectantly.

"I've been having these dreams," she said hesitantly, waiting for some kind of reaction from Draco. When she didn't get one, she continued. "I've been having these dreams about you. You and I actually, in the dreams we were married."

She hadn't expected this to be so awkward. For some reason she had expected that Draco would jump in and say that he had been having the dreams too, but he didn't. If the conversation continued this way, it was going to be very embarrassing.

"How can I say this?" she said, looking down at her lap. "As you probably know, I'm married to Ron Weasley now."

Draco nodded and Hermione noted the slightly confused look on his face.

"What you may not know is that Ron experienced an…injury," she said the word through clenched teeth. "An injury that left him unable to have children."

"I'm sorry," Draco said softly.

"What?" Hermione said.

"I just said I'm sorry, that must have been hard for you two. How is it then that you managed to have this child?" Draco asked, gesturing to the stroller. "Is she adopted?"

Hermione couldn't believe how badly this was going. She shouldn't have come here and now she didn't know how to salvage this meeting. If she continued the way she had intended too, Draco was certainly going to think that she was crazy. He obviously had no clue what she was talking about.

"I'm sorry," she said, getting to her feet. "This was a mistake, I shouldn't have come."

"No, no," Draco said, waving a hand at her. "Why are you here? Is it something to do with the child, do you need legal advice?"

"No!" Hermione said, feeling flustered. "I'm here because I gave birth to this child and I have no idea how she was conceived! Ron can't have children and I didn't cheat on him. I've just been having these dreams! These dreams where I'm married and having sex with you!"

They sat in silence for a moment after her outburst. Hermione could feel the heat in her face and knew that it must be beat red. She had never been more embarrassed in her life. She needed to get out of here.

"So," Draco said after what felt like an eternity. "You think that you conceived this child…in a dream, with me?"

"I don't know what to think," Hermione said softly. "It's all crazy I know. It's impossible really. I shouldn't have come."

"I'm sorry Hermione," he said, using her given name. "I haven't had any dreams, and you're right, it's not possible. I'm sure that the child is Weasley's and that his doctors were simply wrong."

"Yes, that must be it," Hermione said, even though she knew that it wasn't true. "I'm sorry to have wasted you time. I'll go now."

Draco stood up to see her to the door. He stopped in front of the stroller and looked down at the sleeping baby. Hermione saw a mix of emotions that she couldn't read cross his face. She didn't care anymore, she needed to get out of here and pretend that this day never happened.

As she wheeled the stroller back down the ramp she didn't turn back. She didn't see Draco watching them leave with a look of regret on his face. It looked like he wouldn't be going to the office today.

* * *

><p>While Hermione was far from home and visiting someone that she wasn't supposed to be, Ron was also somewhere that he wasn't supposed to be. He was in the Family Planning Wing of St. Mungo's waiting for a DNA specialist to come and speak with him.<p>

Ron had fought his feelings long enough, five long months he had dealt with this doubt. He was ready to bring it up with Hermione, but he had to know if Diana was his first. He hadn't told anyone what he was doing. His friends and family thought that he should just accept the child and ignore his feelings. He couldn't do it anymore. He _had _to know.

The night before, while Hermione was sleeping, he had crept into the nursery and swabbed the inside of Diana's mouth. He didn't have anyone else to test her DNA against to find out who her real father was, but he could certainly test the DNA against his own to find out that she wasn't his. He knew that was what was going to happen.

He didn't want to believe that Hermione had cheated on him, but he knew in his heart that the beautiful baby girl sleeping in his home was not his daughter. He had dropped the swab with his own DNA off as well as Diana's earlier in the morning. He was in the waiting room now awaiting the doctor to find out the results. After he knew the results, he would head straight home to speak with his wife.

Ron settled into the uncomfortable plastic chair. Any minute now, he would finally know the truth.

* * *

><p>AN: It took me a while to write this chapter. I couldn't figure out how I was going to write this conversation between Hermione and Draco without it coming out so awkwardly. I finally decided to just let it be awkward. I mean, it would be incredibly awkward for Hermione to be having that conversation, and I don't think I could have written it any other way. I hope that it worked the way I intended it too and that you guys enjoyed this chapter!<p> 


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

After Draco watched Hermione and Diana walk back down to the street, he slammed his front door behind him.

"Damn it!" he swore, pounding a fist on the door.

Why had he lied to her? Why couldn't he just admit that he had been having the dreams too? This was crazy. Hermione had been right when she said it, it was impossible. Things didn't happen in dreams and then become reality. With Hermione in his sitting room, looking just as she did in his dreams, he hadn't been able to tell her the truth.

He felt incredibly guilty over it, now that she was gone. He couldn't imagine how hard it had been for her to come here. How desperate she must have been for answers for her to actually come and see him! And he had just sat there, pretending that he had no idea what she was talking about. What was wrong with him?

But, somehow, this was all true. Draco had looked at Diana, he knew that was her name even though Hermione hadn't said it. He should have said something as soon as he saw the child, he just hadn't been able to get his mouth to form the words. That baby looked just like she did in his dreams. She looked just like him!

Now Draco didn't know what to do. He couldn't very well chase Hermione down on the street and tell her that he had lied, tell her to come back so they could talk about it. And he certainly couldn't go to work now, he was much too riled up to go to the office and look at any more papers listing Rodolphus Lestrange's endless criminal charges.

So instead of doing anything, he did nothing. Draco sank into the couch where Hermione had been sitting just minutes before and put his head in his hands. He didn't know what to do. He could only hope that an answer would come to him soon.

* * *

><p>The train ride home seemed to take much longer than the ride to Woodcroft. Hermione was absolutely mortified. To make matters worse, Diana was fussy. The whole morning she had been the most perfect, well-behaved baby you could ever see. Now, not so much. Almost as soon as they had left Draco's home and she had started whining from the stroller. Hermione hadn't wanted to stop while she was still within sight of Draco's house and by the time that had gotten back to the train station, Diana was wailing.<p>

Hermione had tried to calm her while they were waiting in line to get their tickets. She would not be silenced. Now, sitting in the ripped train seat, Hermione held her daughter and tried to stop her tears. For the moment, at least, it was distracting her from what had just happened in that familiar sitting room.

"Diana," she moaned, stroking the baby's soft, blonde head. "Please stop crying!"

She rocked the baby softly, hoping to lull her into sleep. Nothing. She tried to nurse her. Nothing. She tried to talk to her with baby talk and soothing words. Nothing. She tried to burp her. Nothing. She checked her diaper. Nothing. Hermione could find nothing wrong. The child was just upset.

Hermione could sympathize. She didn't think she had ever been so upset in her life. She had hoped, in going to Draco's, to get some answers, to find some proof that she wasn't crazy. What she had gotten was just a horrid multiplication of the emotions she was already feeling. Her worst fears had been opened and ripped apart through that meeting.

Not only did Draco have no idea what she was talking about, he also seemed to take everything so calmly. In his line of work, he must deal with strange, even crazy, people all the time. He had just sat and listened to what she had said and shown no reaction whatsoever. Hermione hung her head over her crying daughter. She wanted to cry herself. She wished now that she had never gone to Draco's home. She especially wished that she had never had any of these dreams in the first place. It was killing her.

She must truly be insane, she thought. Why was she pursuing this? They were dreams for Merlin's sake! Why couldn't she just accept, as everyone else had, that Diana was Ron's baby? It was the only possibility. Everyone had said it. Even Draco had said that the baby, by some mysterious fluke, must be Ron's! If everyone else could believe this, why couldn't she?

She wanted Diana to be Ron's. Didn't she? The thought stopped Hermione's racing mind for a moment. Maybe she didn't want Diana to be Ron's. She had admitted to herself in the last few months that she was not happy with Ron. Was she looking for an excuse to end her marriage? Was that why her brain kept pushing that Draco was the father of her child?

But that couldn't be right. If she wanted to end her marriage that badly, she wouldn't do it subconsciously. She would just end it, wouldn't she? Hermione was beginning to feel like she didn't even know herself anymore. She had become a different person over the last year, since she had had that first dream and gotten pregnant. It was no wonder her marriage was falling apart.

Hermione sighed. She couldn't think about this anymore. If she wasn't already crazy, all of these thoughts were certainly going to drive her there. She took a few deep and calming breaths and looked out the window. As she watched the scenery go by, she felt her heartbeat slow and her breathing return to normal. Diana stopped crying.

Hermione looked down at the child, expecting that she had cried herself to sleep. She was met with a pair of big brown eyes looking up at her. Hermione sighed. Diana had been crying because _she _was upset. She could tell when her mother was in distress and had reacted accordingly. Hermione shifted the child in her arms so that they could both look out the window. Hermione would keep herself calm now, for the sake of her child.

* * *

><p>An hour later, Hermione stepped out of the fireplace and into their sitting room. She almost fell over back into the fire when she realized that Ron was sitting on the couch staring into the fireplace. Why was he home so early? Hermione silently cursed herself for not thinking to ask Draco if they could use his fireplace to get home. They would have been home hours ago and Ron never would have known that she had gone anywhere. How was she going to explain this now?<p>

"Ron!" she said finally. "What a nice surprise to have you home! Why aren't you at work?"

She hoped that her voice sounded normal and that he wouldn't suspect that she had something to hide. She would simply tell him that had taken Diana for a walk around London when he asked where they had been.

"I didn't go to work this morning," he said evenly.

"Oh?" she said. "You weren't here when I got up this morning."

"I went to St. Mungo's," he said in the same dry voice.

"Oh!" she said again. "Is someone sick? Are you sick?"

"No Hermione, no one is sick."

"Ok Ron, what's going on?" she asked, starting to feel a familiar frustration with him. "I don't want to play guessing games anymore. Why were you at the hospital?"

"I went to see a DNA specialist," he said softly.

"You what?" Hermione nearly shouted, feeling her blood run cold. Why would he do that? She knew that he had begun to suspect something, but she never would have expected him to go out and act on it that way! Hermione was speechless.

"I had to know," he said, looking at Diana.

Hermione was shocked by the monotone of his voice. She had never heard Ron speak with such little emotion in his words. "Had to know what?"

"I had to know for sure if she was mine. I didn't want to believe that you cheated on me Hermione, but I just couldn't believe Diana was my child, so I had it checked out."  
>"And?" Hermione asked quietly, her voice shaking on the word.<p>

"I was right, she isn't my daughter."

Hermione had almost been expecting that answer. She hadn't been expecting her legs to suddenly decide they couldn't hold her weight anymore. Her knees crumpled beneath her and she found herself on them, on the floor of the sitting room.

"Ron," she was frustrated to find that her voice came out as a whimper. "I…I can explain."

"How Hermione? How can you explain this?" he yelled. He was finally showing his emotion in his voice, unfortunately that emotion was anger. "There is no way that you can explain this unless you admit to cheating on me!"

"I didn't cheat on you Ron!" Hermione cried. "I would never do that to you!"

"I know you're not happy with me, I know that you wanted to have children, but I never would have expected this from you Hermione. I thought that you loved me. We had talked about adoption and I thought you were ready to go for that. I can't believe that you did this."

Hermione saw a look of defeat cross Ron's face as he put his head in his hands. She pushed herself from the floor and went to him. She put a hand on his shoulder. She had to fix this. She had been thinking for weeks about ending their marriage. Now that it actually came down to it, she wasn't ready to let it go. Not like this.

"Ron, I didn't cheat on you," she insisted. "I had this dream-"

"I don't want to hear about dreams and wishes Hermione. It doesn't change anything!"

"Please Ron, just hear me out. Let me explain!"

The raised voices in the room had roused Diana once again and she began to cry. Hermione was torn between looking at Ron's face and running to her daughter. Diana began to wail so loudly that Hermione couldn't ignore her. She lifted Diana from her stroller and clutched her to her chest. Hermione could feel her own tears now falling from her face.

"I'm going," Ron said, standing up. "I'm going to stay with my parents for a few days to give you time to find a place and clear your things out."

"What?" Hermione said, looking up from Diana. "Clear my things out?"

"You can't stay here Hermione," Ron said flatly. "This is my home, on my parents' property. You're the one who needs to move out. I'm not going to throw you and your baby out on the street, but you'll need to leave."

Hermione stood still, feeling like her feet were frozen to the living room floor. She couldn't believe that this was happening. She opened her mouth to speak, to say _something_, but no words would come out. Ron took one last look at them before turning quickly and leaving the room. A few moments passed and then Hermione heard the door slam behind him. Still holding Diana, Hermione sunk down into the couch.

Hours passed by in a blur for the rest of the day. Hermione wandered the house aimlessly, not knowing what to do with herself. She didn't know how to fix this. She could tell Ron about the dreams, if he would let her, but she didn't know what good that would do. She couldn't even believe in the validity of the dreams, Draco didn't believe it, what would make Ron believe it?

Finally, it began to get dark, time to put Diana down for the night. Hermione took her into the nursery and looked around it. Most of the things in there had been given to them by Molly. They were second-hand things that she had used with her own children. Would Hermione be allowed to take these things when she moved into her own home with Diana, or would she need to go and buy herself new things?

In fact, now that she thought of it, most of the items in the home were like that. This was something that Hermione hadn't even thought of before. She had been so consumed by the emotional aspect of all of this that she hadn't even begun to think of all of the technicalities. She would have to speak to Ron about it, after she made some calls about finding a flat to move into.

Thinking of these details, Hermione felt herself near tears again as she lowered Diana into her crib. She needed to get the sleeping girl into bed before she lost it again. Hermione couldn't deal with waking Diana up and having her cry again right now. The infant had been in tears for most of the day, just as Hermione had. Hermione wanted nothing more now than to just crawl into bed and forget that this whole awful day had happened.

* * *

><p>Hours later, Hermione woke feeling completely rested. She began to stretch her arms out above her head. Then she remembered everything that had happened the day before. She groaned as she opened her eyes. After her eyes adjusted to the light, she groaned again. She was still alone, but she wasn't in her bedroom anymore.<p>

She sat up in bed and surveyed the room. She could see through the opening in the bed's canopy that the room hadn't changed. It was still a light, airy room. It was so neat that Hermione could tell that she lived here. She got up from bed and went to the dresser, pulling out a pair of jeans and a cotton t-shirt. She didn't want to go wandering around the house half-naked, who knew how long she would be in the dream this time?

As she was getting dressed she noticed that the door to the nursery wasn't there. She wondered if this meant that Diana hadn't been born yet, or if she had simply outgrown the nursery and they had closed it off. Hermione sighed in frustration. That was another problem with these dreams: she never knew when she was while she was in them. She had no way to prepare herself for them.

"Draco?" she called into the hallway after she was finished dressing. She walked down the stairs and saw that the picture on the landing was still the wedding photograph of Draco and herself. No kids yet. "Draco?" she called again. She wondered if he was at work.

She wandered the main floor, sticking her head into each room. It took longer than she expected it would, this house was huge. She didn't see him though. She peered through the huge window in the kitchen, trying to look upwards to see if he was flying. She still didn't see him, he must be at work.

She sat down in one of the kitchen chairs. What was she supposed to do now? What was the point of having one of these dreams by herself? It wasn't like she could just go about her normal daily business. She didn't have any work to do and she didn't have a baby to occupy her time. Hermione stood back up and let out a sigh, there was no point in sitting there waiting to wake up, she needed to do something.

She knew that the tower held a library because she had caught a glimpse of it in a past dream. She hadn't gone inside of it. When she entered it she gasped. The library was incredible. It was two stories high with a spiral staircase leading to an upper sitting area. The bookcases covered the walls everywhere she looked and went all the way up to the ceiling. An old-fashioned ladder was attached to the wall so that the higher books could be reached.

Hermione ran her fingers over the spines of the books nearest her. She had expected them to be covered in dust. They weren't. This room must see more use than she had thought. How could she and Draco possibly find the time to come in here and read often enough to keep the books dust free?

She saw that the books were organized alphabetically by category. She knew that this was her handiwork. The books in each category were in alphabetical order as well. She smiled, a few years ago Ginny had tried to convince her to order her books in a different way. She said that she had read in a home decorating magazine that books should be organized by shape and by colour so that they would be more appealing to the eye. Hermione thought that was nonsense. How would you find a book if they were organized by colour and not category?

Hermione was amazed by the books. She had quite a collection at home, but nothing compared to this. How many of these had Draco brought into their marriage? How many had belonged to his parents and were quite possibly illegal? She looked and saw that, sure enough, there was a section of books on Dark Magic and a section for books about poisons. She suddenly felt naughty, like she was sneaking into the restricted section of the library all over again.

Hermione spent nearly two hours in the library. Shockingly enough, she didn't actually pull anything down to read, she just looked at all of the different books. It was like being in a store. She found many of her own books in there and it sent a strange feeling over her. It was strange to see some of her muggle novels next to books about Pure-Blood history.

She had just noticed that there was a section for books about dreams when she heard a sound in the house. She froze, feeling like she was about to be caught trespassing in someone's home. Then she remembered that technically this was her home at the moment. She turned from the bookcases and walked to the hallway.

"Hermione?" she heard Draco's voice from the front of the house.

"I'm in the library," she called back.

"What a day," he said, entering the room and dropping a black brief case on the floor beside him. "But what a beautiful thing to come home to."

As he planted a small kiss on her cheek, Hermione wondered again why Draco didn't experience these dreams the same way that she did. If the dreams were real, which seemed to be becoming more and more of a possibility, then why wasn't Draco experiencing them the same way that she was? He was fully submerged in the dream, this was his life. Hermione felt a sudden pang of anger and jealousy that she was the only one that had to be going through this.

"Stop," she said, pushing him away from her.

"What's wrong?" he said, with genuine concern on his face.

The look on his face was so sweet and so loving that Hermione almost faltered in what she was about to do. She didn't want to hurt him, but she didn't want to pretend to be a part of this little fantasy world anymore. She was sick of being the only one that knew it wasn't real.

"This isn't real," she burst out. "This isn't my life. I'm not married to you!"

"'Mione, what are you talking about?" he said, looking at her with a very confused look on his handsome face. "Of course you're married to me!"

"No," she said, yelling now. "It's not real! It's a lie! It's all a big, stupid LIE!"

It was at that moment that she was sucked right out of the dream. It happened even quicker than it had before and Hermione had to wonder if she had somehow done it herself this time. She didn't have time to think much on it though because she woke in her bed to a loud ringing sound.

It took her a few moments to realize that it was the telephone. The phone rang so infrequently that she didn't recognize the sound at first. She pulled herself out of bed and went quickly down the hallway towards the kitchen. She poked her head into Diana's room and saw that she was still sleeping. By the time she pulled the phone off of the wall in the kitchen, she was out of breath.

"Hello?" she said breathlessly.

"Hermione?" the voice on the other end said. "It's Draco Malfoy, we need to talk."

* * *

><p>AN: sorry this chapter is so short, I really wanted to get it up today. I will try my hardest to give you guys a longer one next week!<p> 


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Draco?" Hermione said hesitantly, glancing at the clock on the wall. "It's almost three in the morning."

"I know," he said quietly. "I hope I didn't wake up Diana, but I need to speak with you. I wasn't completely honest with you while you were here yesterday. Can we meet up sometime soon to talk?"

"Sure," Hermione said. "How about tomorrow?"

She answered his question but she was still turning over what he had just said in her head. He hadn't been entirely honest. Did that mean that he _was_ having dreams and he had lied about it? Why would he lie about it? She wondered for a moment and then realized that of course he wouldn't want to admit to something like that right away. It would make him seem as crazy as she had been scared of appearing.

"Tomorrow, sure we can get together tomorrow."

"What time?" Hermione asked.

"How about…Oh shit," Draco said.

"What?" she asked, startled by his outburst.

"Well, I just remembered that I am busy tomorrow. Rodolphus Lestrange's trial starts tomorrow."

"Oh!" Hermione said, she had forgotten as well. She was disappointed, she had really wanted to get together with Draco as soon as possible.

"You could come to the trial," he said suddenly.

"I can?" Hermione asked, she hadn't realized that it was a public trial.

"Yes, it's a public trial," he said as if he had read her thoughts. "Anyone is allowed in. Provided you can get here early enough to get a seat."

"Ok, so if I come to the trial, we can get together afterwards to…talk?" Hermione asked cautiously.

"I think that would be the best," Draco said. Hermione could tell that he wanted to get this conversation over with as quickly as possible as well.

* * *

><p>The next morning Hermione was up and had Diana ready to go even earlier than she had the day before. Today she wouldn't have to worry about where Ron was. She knew he was at his parents and technically it shouldn't really matter to him now where she went and who she saw. She felt a pang in her heart at that realization. She quickly pushed it back, she didn't have time for that at the moment.<p>

She decided that she was not going to walk or take any trains today, she had had quite enough of that yesterday and she was pretty sure that Diana had too. She was already concerned about having Diana out and about so much. She was used to spending most of her time at home. Hermione didn't think that it could do her any harm to have a change of scenery, she would probably be getting a lot of that soon.

Hermione had decided that they were going to ride through the Floo System to get there. She could travel right from the sitting room to the Ministry of Magic and then make her way to the Wizengamot's courtroom from there. She knew that there was more than one courtroom there, but she was assuming that this trial would probably take place in the largest one. If she couldn't find it when she got there she would simply have to ask and hope that no one that she knew saw her and asked her what she was doing at a Death Eater's trial.

Hermione glanced at Diana making sure that they had everything they would need for a day away from home. It was amazing how many things a baby needed just within a few short hours. Caring for an infant meant more than just giving them a feeding of breast milk every few hours. There were diapers, powders, changes of clothes, toys and many other things to be taken into consideration. Once Hermione was satisfied that everything was tucked into the many pockets and compartments of the magically enhanced stroller, she was ready to go to the Ministry.

Her gaze caught on Diana's face for a moment. It was so early that it was still dark outside and incredibly Diana had not woken up when Hermione had put socks on her and moved her into the stroller. Hermione sighed, she really did have the perfect baby. Suddenly Hermione's eyebrows crinkled down, there was something tickling the back of her brain…something that she should be remembering. She just couldn't, how frustrating. Hermione hated it when her brain failed her and decided to ignore it for the moment. She was starting to see sunlight poking in through the windows and she knew that she needed to leave right then if she was going to get a seat in what was sure to be a jam-packed courtroom.

She took a small handful of the Floo Powder out of the small clay pot on the stove. She noticed that they were getting low and thought for a moment that she would have to tell Ron to pick some up on his way home from work. As soon as the thought entered her brain, she mentally smacked herself. How long was it going to take her to remember that she and Ron were not together?

She threw the powder into the fire and spoke the code word that Draco had given her the night before. It always required a code word to get into the Ministry, but usually the words were changed every few weeks and spread around to the people that were supposed to have constant access to the Ministry. It was by no means a failsafe way to keep unwanted people out of the Ministry but it was their most base level of security and did help to deter some people from coming in when they really didn't need to.

Today though the codeword was different than it would be any other day and a little more complex. The Ministry definitely wouldn't want any unwanted guests in the Ministry today. They wouldn't want any interruptions during this long-awaited and very important trial. Hermione considered herself lucky that she had been given the word and would be allowed to attend the trial.

Of course, the trial was considered public, so no one could stop her from attending it. As long as they had the code word that is. The Ministry could say that the trial was 'public' but that didn't necessarily mean that they wanted just anybody to be able to get into it. It was sort of a small loophole in the law that gave the Ministry some of its constant power of the magical people.

Hermione felt that the trip was taking a little longer than it should and assumed that, despite this added security password, there were still a lot of people trying to get into the Ministry. She knew that occasionally, when something big was going on and a lot of people were traveling, there could be bottle-necks in the Floo System. She waited patiently, keeping a good grip on Diana's stroller, as she felt herself slowly being sucked forward.

It was a strange sensation, Hermione thought. It was almost similar to how she had felt when she was being pulled out of the dreams that she had with Draco. The difference was that here, she was going forwards, and in the dreams she was going backwards. It was that same feeling of slowly being sucked towards something. Finally their speed began to increase and they were finally thrust outwards out of the fire.

Glancing around, Hermione found that her assumptions had been correct. There had to be hundreds of people milling around the arrival area. She didn't move right away and she almost immediately felt someone stepping into her from behind. She needed to get out of the way before she was trampled.

"Sorry!" she called to the witch behind her as she began to maneuver Diana's stroller through the room. That was when it hit her.

"Diana," she whispered.

How had Draco known Diana's name? Hermione was sure that she hadn't mentioned the baby's name when she had been in his house. Unless he had somehow found out from someone else what her daughter's name was, Hermione was pretty sure that she now had proof that she wasn't the only one experiencing the strange dreams.

With a smile on her face, Hermione began to maneuver out more quickly and finally found herself in a more clear area of the Ministry. She didn't have to wait very long for an elevator but it sure was full when she got into it. She wasn't surprised to see that nearly everyone in the lift got off at the same basement level that she did. She hadn't needed to worry about finding the courtroom, she just had to follow the mob and hope that there was still room inside for them.

Hermione sighed a huge sigh of relief when she and Diana finally made it to courtroom. It was even more enormous than she had thought it would be. Even though there were already hundreds of people seated in the arena-style seating, there were still plenty of seats. She followed the crowd forward and headed towards the closest area to the front that was left. She couldn't magic away the stairs here as Draco had at his home so she had to softly levitate Diana's stroller in front of her up the stairs to her seat.

Glancing down at the Chief Warlock's platform, the Wizengamot's balcony and the two separate areas below for the defense and prosecution, she realized that she hadn't needed to worry about how close she was. This room had been magically enhanced so that no matter where you were sitting, you would be able to see and hear what was going on at the front of the room.

Glancing at her watch, Hermione found that she still had two hours until the trial would begin. Sensing that Diana was no longer sleeping, Hermione lifted the infant from her stroller. She knew that the baby would be more comfortable against her warmth than she would be sitting in the stroller, so Hermione decided to hold onto her child as long as her arms would let her.

While she was waiting for the trial to start, Hermione mulled over her life's latest developments. Well, she thought, not quite _all _of the latest developments. She didn't want to think about Ron and what she was going to have to do in the next few days in relation to him. She did think about the dreams though.

She knew now, or was almost certain anyway, that Draco did know about the dreams. He had already admitted that he had lied when they spoke yesterday, so he must at least know something. And he knew Diana's name, which was another telltale sign that he was having the dreams. With these answers though, Hermione was reminded of all of her original questions.

Why was she having these dreams in the first place? Was Diana really conceived in a dream? Why was she the only one actually experiencing the dreams? How would she explain this to anyone? What did this mean for her future and for Diana? How was she ever going to figure this out?

Looking around the courtroom, she realized that she hadn't even arranged with Draco where they would meet after the first day of the trial was over. She decided finally that she would just stay in her seat and wait for the room to clear out in the hopes that Draco would notice her sitting up there. There couldn't be very many other people in the room that had a stroller with them.

Hermione had always been the kind of person who could pass time quickly. Whether she was just thinking or working or researching she always found that once she was absorbed in something, the time would fly by. The same was true today. Almost before she knew it the trial was starting.

Hermione thought briefly on what she knew about the court system. It wasn't much and what she knew was a mixture between muggle and magic law. She knew that the prosecution, which was Draco, would lead the trial and present the evidence against Lestrange to the Wizengamot. The Wizengamot would then decide whether Lestrange was guilty or innocent and what his punishment would be. She also knew that Draco would have to be very careful because most of the defense's case would rest on pointing out any flaws or inconsistencies in the evidence. From what she had heard about Draco's career, she was pretty confident that his case would as close to airtight as possible.

Hermione watched as all fifty members of the Wizengamot filed onto the balcony. Hermione hardly recognized any of them. Besides Griselda Marchbanks and Tiberius Ogden, none of the members that were on the Wizengamot when Harry faced them were there anymore. Hermione recognized Susan Bones and Anthony Goldstein, who had been classmates of hers while at Hogwarts. Hermione saw that Alastor Gumboil had been made Chief Warlock at some point in the last few years. She had only met him once or twice but he seemed to be a nice, yet determined, man. She hoped that that would help during this trial.

She saw Draco come in and stand on the prosecution's side of the room. Hermione felt her breath catch in her throat at the sight of him. _Damn_, he looked good in a suit. It was a black suit of course and it must have been tailored to fit him. He had on an emerald green, silk dress shirt underneath it. The contrast had a wonderful effect and somehow made the steely colour of his eyes pop out like she had never seen them before. His hair hung smooth and silkily to his shoulders.

Hermione managed to drag her eyes away from him as she saw that Rodolphus Lestrange was being led into the room. As always, the prisoner was led in by a group of Dementors. Dementors didn't affect everyone the way that they did Harry, but she could still feel some of the energy leaving the room. The Dementors deposited Lestrange in a large chair on the defense's side of the room. The wrist and ankle shackles immediately closed over him. He would be stuck in that chair until the Dementors came back to collect him.

As the Dementors left the room you could almost hear the sigh of relief from the thousand people that were gathered in the room. Hermione felt the strength flow back into her and relaxed slightly in her chair. She noted that Gumboil had stood up at the front of the room and was addressing the room as a whole. He was far away but his voice rang clearly towards everyone that was present.

"Good morning," he said, looking around the room with wary eyes. "Before we proceed I want everyone to know that there will be no dishonour in my courtroom. You are gathered here to witness this trial. Remember that, you are a witness, not a commentator. I don't want to hear a word from any of you during the proceedings or I will have you removed from this courtroom."

Hermione said a silent prayer that Diana would not make a peep while they were here. Alastor Gumboil was clearly a no nonsense kind of person who had little tolerance for any interruptions. She saw other people looking a little startled as well. Hermione knew that most of them would remain silent because none of them would want to be removed from the room and miss a second of this trial.

Everyone in the room remained silent as both Draco and Lestrange were sworn in. Wizards didn't swear over a bible the way that muggles did. They actually had to swear a magical oath to tell the truth. As long as they were in the courtroom they would stay bound to that oath. When they had finished Gumboil sat down.

"Mr. Malfoy, you may approach the bench and make your opening statements."

Draco didn't waste any time with formalities, he got right down to the business of the trial. His firm and charming voice filled the courtroom, drawing in everyone's attention.

"Rodolphus Lestrange is a well-known Death Eater, a long time supporter of Voldemort," at the mention of the name there was so much cringing in the crowd that it resembled a wave. "He needs to pay for his crimes against the Wizarding world. His crimes are cruel and very extensive. Let me warn you, this trial should not be witnessed by the faint of heart."

Hermione noticed an elderly woman beside her clutching her handbag with a terrified look on her face. Hermione wanted to pat her arm and tell her it was ok because the woman looked like she was scared that Lestrange was going to escape the chair and kill them all. Hermione didn't want to speak a word though in case she was heard and had to be removed from the courtroom. She returned her gaze to Draco and realized that she had missed some of his speech.

"Justice will be served in this courtroom," he was saying. "Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but by the time this trial is over Lestrange _will _be found guilty of all of the charges against him."

At this point Draco began to list of the many crimes that Rodolphus Lestrange had accredited to him. The list went on forever. Hermione suspected that there were actually more crimes, but as she had noted earlier, Draco would only use the ones that had enough credible evidence to surely get Lestrange convicted.

Many of the charges were terms that she didn't even recognize. Lestrange was being charged with murder in the first, second and third degree. The degree system here, Hermione recalled, was not the same as it was in the muggle world. First degree murder meant that a witch or wizard killed another without using magic. This meant they used a weapon, a vehicle or some other object. Second degree was killing using magic. Third degree was the worst offence. It was killing another with the forbidden killing curse.

He of course was also charged with the use of all three of the Unforgivables. Hermione knew that this alone could get Lestrange a life sentence in Azkaban. Draco must be trying to get him the Dementor's Kiss then, the most severe punishment anyone could receive for their crimes.

Lestrange was also charged with the murders of many specific people, including some muggles. He was also being charged with many counts of torture, again on muggles and magic folk. Also, surprisingly, he was being charged for torture and experimentation on animals. Destruction of private property, conspiracy against the Ministry, magic in front of muggles, being a Death Eater…the list went on and on.

Finally Draco finished the recitation of the various crimes and began to bring in witnesses. Hermione could tell already that this case was already sealed. This huge trial was just a formality and she would be surprised if the lawyer that had been appointed to Lestrange would even have anything to say when it was all over. Considering the lawyer didn't even bother to make opening statements and didn't take any notes during Draco's, Hermione didn't think so.

Draco's first witness was a coroner from St. Mungo's, Dr. Hopweather, who had performed most of the autopsies on Lestrange's victims. Draco began questioning him, but again it was just a formality. The defense lawyer didn't even seem to be paying attention, let alone taking any notes or preparing any questions for his turn with the witness.

"So what you're saying doctor, is that these ten people here were killed by the killing curse?" Draco was holding a list of names in front of the doctor. Some of the victims' families wanted the identities of their deceased loved ones to remain confidential so that they would not draw any unwanted attention to themselves from other Death Eaters.

"Yes," the doctor said with a thick Scottish accent. "Everyone on this list was killed by the killing curse."

Draco handed the list of names to Gumboil and then continued his questioning. "How can you be certain that was what killed him?"

Hermione knew the answer to that question and she suspected that many other people in the room did as well. Draco really was covering every corner. His questioning of each witness would be thorough.

"There are simple spells that every doctor and nurse know that can determine what spells were last cast upon a person," the doctor explained simply.

"And," Draco continued. "You're certain that these curses were performed by Mr. Lestrange?"

"Yes, completely certain. The spells used to determine the caster are similar to the spells used to determine the spells in the first place actually."

The questioning went on like that for a while. Finally Draco was finished with the doctor and he turned the witness over to the defense. Hermione was not surprised when the defense lawyer said he had no further questions.

Draco's next witness was a family member of one of the victims. He was also someone that had endured torture under Rodolphus Lestrange's hand. He was sworn in and then quickly launched into his testimony.

"He had already killed my brother trying to get information out of him" the man was saying. "But it wasn't enough. He still thought that my family had more to offer him. He tortured me for two weeks before I was finally rescued by a group of Aurors."

"Can you remember any of the methods of torture that were used? Can you remember any of the spells?" Draco asked.

With what was clearly extreme discomfort, the man relived the two weeks that he had spent in a dungeon undergoing torture. He was starved and beaten almost to the point of death. From what he was describing, Hermione was surprised that he had survived the torture. He had been torturing physically and archaically, had been shackled to a wall and whipped for hours. He said that there were nights that he was so thirsty that he tried to drink the blood that was dripping down his face.

It just got worse from there. He was describing having his fingers twisted by a machine until they broke when Hermione noticed that the elderly lady that had been sitting near her was no longer there. Draco had been right, this trial was not for the weak. Finally the man finished speaking and everyone could see the exhaustion in his face.

"I think we'll take a brief lunch break now," Gumboil said, looking at his watch. "Reconvene in an hour."

Hermione was surprised to find that it was noon and she was hungry. Diana hadn't made a sound during the whole morning but Hermione knew that she must be hungry as well. She stood up and felt her leg muscles stretch after being immobile for so long. How did people do this all day? She levitated Diana's stroller back down the stairs and followed the crowd out of the room.

She looked around, trying to catch a glimpse of Draco. Maybe if she could find him they could have lunch together and start their conversation a little early. There were way too many people still in the courtroom though and Hermione wasn't all that tall. She definitely was not going to find him right now.

Since there were so many people leaving at once this time, rather than all going in spurts, there were large lineups at the lifts. Hermione decided to cut out of the line and head into a bathroom so that she could nurse Diana before she became restless. There was a lineup in the bathroom as well, but Hermione didn't need to use the toilet. She found a corner and put up a concealment charm around herself.

A little while later when she left the washroom, the hallway was much less full. She made her way back down to the lifts and managed to get on right away. Everyone else on the lift was going to the cafeteria and she could only imagine what the lineup would be like in there. She hoped that an hour would be enough time for her to wolf down a sandwich or something.

Finally she made it to the cafeteria line. There were so many options of what she could get but a glance at her watch told Hermione that she didn't have that much time. She decided just to get an egg-salad sandwich and a can of pop. Hopefully Draco wouldn't mind stopping somewhere to get something to eat later. She made a mental note to pack her own lunch if she ever did something like this again.

When she had her food she quickly surveyed the seating area. She immediately decided that she wasn't going to bother trying to find a seat, she would just head into a corner and stand while she ate her sandwich. Apparently she wasn't the only one who had that idea. When she walked over to the wall she actually had a hard time finding an empty space to lean because there were so many people standing against the wall. Just as she was beginning to unwrap her sandwich she heard a voice calling her name.

"Hermione?"

She looked up and tried to figure out where it was coming from. She hadn't recognized anybody while she was in the courtroom but she hadn't really been looking. She scanned all of the faces near her but no one was looking at her. They were all trying to eat as quickly as she was. She shrugged her shoulders and went back to her sandwich. As soon as she put her head down, she heard it again.

"Hermione!"

The voice was closer this time and when she looked up she saw who it was. Oh no, she thought. How was she going to explain things this time? She actually hadn't done such a good job explaining things the last time she thought as a grim feeling came over her. She couldn't avoid it any longer though because the figure was right in front of her.

"Hermione," Ron said, giving her a strange look. "What are you doing here?"

* * *

><p>AN: I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I tried to give you a bit longer of a chapter this week because I'm not going to be able to put one up next week. I'm leaving for vacation on Wednesday and won't be back until next Tuesday. I will try to get the next chapter up as soon as I can when I get back!<p>

Also, please forgive me for any typos in this chapter. I didn't have time to read through it since I had to get it up right away!


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Ron!" Hermione exclaimed. She knew that she had the look of a deer caught in headlights on her face.

"Hermione," he repeated. "What are you doing here? You can't follow me to work like this!"

"I didn't follow you to work!" she said, feeling shocked at his assumption. "I came to see the trial."

"You brought your baby to a murder trial?" his voice was just dripping with skepticism.

"Well, I don't really have anywhere else to leave her, now do I?" Hermione said, putting her hand on her hip.

"No, I suppose you don't," he said, giving Diana a quick glance.

Hermione wondered briefly if he had any lingering feelings for Diana. Even if he had had his doubts since the beginning that Diana was his, one would think that he would have become a little attached to her over the last few months. Hermione knew though, that Ron had only spent a handful of hours with Diana and probably hardly knew the baby at all.

"Anyway, I should really eat my lunch and then get back down to the courtroom if I want to find a seat again," she said, taking a bite of her sandwich.

"You really just came here to see the trial?"

"Yes Ron, really."

"Why?" he asked simply.

"Well, you've only been talking about it for the last year, I thought I'd come down and see it for myself."

He seemed to believe this and Hermione was suddenly ashamed at how good she had gotten at lying to him. Ron may not be a great husband, but he didn't deserve her dishonesty. She knew that she couldn't tell him the truth though. He would be livid if he found out that she was here to have a meeting with Draco Malfoy.

"Alright then," he said finally. "I'll give you a call sometime soon. I don't suppose you've found a place yet?"

Hermione was startled by the coldness in his voice. "No Ron, I haven't found a place to stay yet. It's only been a day."

"Ok," he said, taking a step away from her. "Be sure to tell me as soon as you do. We have a lot of things to sort through."

"Of course," she said, trying to match the wintry tone of his voice.

"Enjoy the trial," he said as he walked away from her.

Hermione looked down at her sandwich and found that she had suddenly lost her appetite. She tossed it into a nearby trash bin and wheeled Diana's stroller out of the crowded cafeteria.

* * *

><p>As the crowd began filing back into the courtroom, Draco tried to clear his mind of everything but the trial. He just could not stop thinking about the conversation that he would be having with Hermione in a few hours. He hadn't been able to spot her in the crowded room that morning but he knew that she was somewhere up in those stands. If Hermione Granger said that she would be somewhere, she would be there.<p>

Draco had managed to hold it together during the first morning of the trial, even with his mind in turmoil. Although this trial was really just a legal formality, it was still important for him to get everything right. He couldn't leave any loose ends. He didn't want Lestrange to get off because of any small mistakes that he made. He glanced over at Cade Greenwater, Lestrange's lawyer. The man looked half asleep and had barely appeared to be listening during the questioning of the first two witnesses. Draco couldn't let his guard down though, he didn't want Greenwater to come back at him when he wasn't expecting it. He had to treat this as seriously as any other case.

Chatter began to fill the courtroom as the seats began to fill. People could only sit silently for so long and Draco knew that the cafeteria would have been filled with conversation about the trial. It would take a few moments for everyone to settle back down again. The Wizengamot was entering now and the afternoon proceedings were about to begin.

"Order!" called Gumboil in a booming voice. "Order in this courtroom." He banged his gavel to know avail. "Silence!" he finally yelled.

Silence rippled across the crowd until the room was nearly quiet. All of the talking had ceased. Draco could still hear noise though. Carrying through the stadium-sized room was the sound of a crying infant. All of the eyes in the room turned in one direction and Draco finally caught sight of Hermione. She was desperately trying to calm the child and was obviously embarrassed by the attention she was getting. Draco finally saw her wave her wand and he knew that she was casting a Muffliato spell so that no one would be able to hear her or Diana anymore.

A thousand sets of eyes finally swiveled back around to the front of the room. Gumboil put his gavel down and sat down heavily in his seat. Draco took this as his cue to proceed and called his next witness to the stand. This witness was very important to the case. She was also a very rare kind of witness because she was a muggle. It was almost unheard of for muggles to be allowed into the Wizengamot's proceedings. Generally they would have their memories wiped of anything that would be useful for a criminal trial.

Sofia Brown was a different story. She had a close cousin who was a wizard and had grown up well aware of the magical world. She had also been witness to many horrible things. She ran an animal shelter in London that had been taken control of by Rodolphus Lestrange for many years. She was there to testify to the horrors that she had witnessed during that time.

"Miss Brown, please explain to the Wizengamot how Mr. Lestrange came to be at your animal shelter."

"Well," she said, her voice shaking a little. "He came in one day and started to try and control all of my staff using his magic. I was aware of what he was doing because of my experiences with magic in the past. I was able to avoid his control while he occupied the shelter. I was unable to do anything to stop him though for fear of revealing what I knew and causing him to turn on me," she put her head down in shame. "He did horrible things to the animals in that shelter and I was too afraid of him to do anything to try and stop it."

Draco knew that this had to be very difficult for the woman. While she had seen magic while growing up, she was completely unaccustomed to be surrounded by so many magical people and had probably not felt so trapped since she had practically been held hostage in her own animal shelter by Rodolphus Lestrange.

"Can you tell us what Lestrange did while he was in your shelter?"

"He was testing things on the animals."

"What kinds of things?" Draco prompted.

"Well, he started out by testing spells and potions on them to see how they reacted. He soon moved on to genetic testing."

"What do you mean by genetic testing?" Draco asked. "What was he trying to accomplish?"

"I believe that he was trying to create new beasts," she explained. "He was breeding them and casting mutilated spells on them. He was trying to create animals that could fight for him, he was trying to create a completely submissive army."

A soft murmuring fell over the crowd. This was something that had never been heard of before. No Death Eater had ever done this, it wasn't something that any of these people had even considered before. They were shocked and appalled by the idea of it. Draco knew that this was going to be a very important testimony for the case. All of the people gathered here were scared of Death Eaters, and with good reason. This would give them a new reason to be scared, a new reason to come clean with any information that they might be holding onto about others like Lestrange.

As Sofia continued her testimony, Draco stole a glance up at Hermione and Diana. He could see that Hermione was still cradling her baby and trying to get her to calm down. He knew that this meant that her charm was still up and he was glad for it. He knew how Hermione felt about animals and he thought that it was for the best that she wasn't hearing this particular testimony.

* * *

><p>Diana simply would not stop crying. Hermione knew that it was too good to be true that Diana had behaved so well during the trip to the Ministry and during the morning testimonies. She couldn't expect the baby to remain silent or sleeping for the whole day. She had already changed Diana's diaper before coming back into the courtroom so she knew that it wasn't that. She simply held her daughter and stroked her back and her hair, hoping that these things would settle her.<p>

She knew that she was missing the trial. She could tell by the looks on the faces of the people behind her that she was missing a doozy of a testimony right now. She would have to ask Draco later what this muggle's testimony had been about. She could see the witness standing up now and leaving and she briefly wondered if she should leave as well, take Diana into the hallway and try to calm her down. She quickly dismissed the idea, she didn't want to draw any more attention to herself and she wasn't sure that she would be able to maintain her Muffliato spell and levitate Diana's stroller down the steps.

A strange sensation came over Hermione and she looked down to see the next witness being brought into the room. She was surprised to see that he was being brought in by Dementors. Was this a Death Eater that was testifying against one of their own? Hermione squinted down at the man but couldn't quite make him out beyond his blonde hair. As the witness drew closer to Draco she looked from him to this man and made the connection. It was Lucius Malfoy.

Hermione's blood ran cold and she felt her muscles tense up. She wished that she would be able to listen to the testimony of the man that she blamed for ruining her life and her marriage.

* * *

><p>As his father was led into the courtroom, Draco wondered if it had been a good idea to let him testify. He had allowed it for partly selfish reasons. It had been more than two years since he had seen his father. Now he was thinking that maybe it had been better that way. He didn't like seeing his father, the most powerful man that he knew, reduced to this. He was practically skin and bones and his blonde hair hung limply over his sunken cheekbones.<p>

Draco had been surprised to learn that Lucius wanted to testify against a Death Eater. His memories of his father portrayed him as a very loyal man, one who would never betray his fellow followers. This was just another reminder to Draco that his parents had been wrongfully imprisoned. They had changed their ways and were more than willing to help in the fight against the remaining Death Eaters.

He could only hope that this would help his parents when he was finally able to build his case. He vowed to himself once more that if it was the last thing that he did, he would get his parents out of Azkaban. Thinking about it reminded him that he had not spent nearly as much time on their case recently as he should have and that he was really no closer to getting them out of jail than he had been a year ago. He still needed to figure out who it was that had pressed the charges against them so that he could get them to drop them somehow.

Draco sighed and turned his attention back to the courtroom. Lucius had been sworn in and was looking patiently at him. How long had he been lost in his own thoughts? Everyone was clearly waiting for him to begin the questioning. He rustled the papers in front of him and settled in for another long and gruesome testimony.

* * *

><p>Hermione was finally able to lower her muffling charm just as the day was ending. All of the day's witnesses had been heard and Gumboil had decided that they had all heard enough for the day. They would reconvene the following morning at nine. Hermione stayed in her seat as the courtroom emptied out.<p>

The room was getting loud and she prayed that Diana would remain calm while everyone slowly left the room. It was taking a very long time for the thousand people in the room to leave. After not being able to talk during the whole day of the trial, people were now mingling around and discussing all of the testimonies in great detail. Hermione strained her ears to try and hear anything about Lucius Malfoy, but people seemed to be more interested in the muggle who had testified before him.

Hermione tried to be patient. She knew that if she moved she would never be able to find Draco. She still planned to wait until the room was empty in the hopes that he would see her. She craned her neck and found that she could not see the front of the room at all because of all of the people standing there and she certainly couldn't make out any individuals.

Hermione could only imagine the bottleneck that was happening at the lifts now and was glad to be waiting in here and not trying to take Diana through that. She was hoping that Draco wanted to go somewhere nearby to talk, she didn't enjoy the idea of trying to make her way through the overloaded Floo Network anytime soon.

Finally after nearly a half an hour of chatter, pushing and shoving, the room was almost completely empty. Hermione could see that the Wizengamot was long gone, they had probably left as soon as they had been dismissed. The witness stand was bare, the defense lawyer was gone. Hermione still couldn't see Draco. There were actually cleaning staff coming in now. They walked slowly along the rows, picking up bits of trash. The one nearest to her gave a look that told her she needed to leave so they could do their jobs.

Hermione swore under her breath as she began to levitate Diana's stroller back down the steps. Why hadn't she and Draco come up with a meeting place for after the trial? She might not be able to find him now and she really didn't want to put this meeting off any longer. She sighed as she headed back out into the hallway. It was empty now, which didn't help. She had hoped that Draco would be out here.

* * *

><p>At the end of the afternoon, Draco left through the back exit with the members of the Wizengamot. He just needed to grab a quick drink to sooth his aching throat and then he could go back into the courtroom to meet Hermione. He hoped that she would wait where she had been sitting during the day so that he would be able to find her quickly when he went back out.<p>

Draco knew that he had some time before the courtroom cleaned out. Big trials like this one always caused a lot of unnecessary chatter. This many witches and wizards in one place was also bound to cause some catching up and reminiscing. He figured that he should have about a half an hour until the room was empty enough to make his way over to where Hermione had been sitting.

As he walked through the Wizengamot's quarters, Draco found that he was starving. He stopped over by their buffet table and helped himself to some nachos and salsa. After washing it down with a glass of water he found that he was already feeling better after the long and difficult day. He ate a little more and made small talk with the people around him. He glanced down at his watch and realized that it had been more than a half an hour since he left the courtroom.

"Excuse me!" he said to the man he had been talking to. "I've got to go, I'm supposed to be meeting someone."

The man waved his goodbye and then turned back to the overloaded buffet table. Draco spun on his heel and almost ran right into Alastor Gumboil, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot.

"Terribly sorry sir," Draco said, stopping in front of the man. "I'm just in a bit of a hurry."

"Draco Malfoy," Gumboil said. "Just the man I was looking for. I was hoping I could talk to you for just a moment about the trial."

"Well sir I-"

"Perfect. I wanted to talk to you about your choice of witnesses. Don't you think that some of them are a little inappropriate for such a public trial?"

That caught Draco's immediate attention. He momentarily forgot his rush and turned back to Gumboil.

"Inappropriate?" he asked.

"Well yes, those gruesome stories, the muggle, the Death Eater…"

"The man on trial is a Death Eater! Of course his trial is going to be gruesome! The public should know that and if they don't want to hear it they shouldn't have come to the trial. If you think it's such a problem, maybe you shouldn't have made the trial public in the first place!" Draco was trying very hard not to raise his voice, but the idea of toning down a trial like this one for the sake of the audience was ludicrous.

"Well, I would like you to keep what I've said in mind for tomorrow," Gumboil said, as if Draco had never spoken at all. "This trial is really just a formality anyhow, we all know that Lestrange will be going to Azkaban."

Draco couldn't believe how flippant the man was being. "I'm trying to get him more than a sentence in Azkaban! I'm trying to get him the Dementor's Kiss! And if the people sitting in on this trial learn a little more about Death Eaters during this, maybe more of them will come forward with more evidence against some of them and we can punish them all as much as they deserve."

"Well, I see that we're not going to see eye to eye on this matter. I would like you to tone down the witnesses tomorrow," Gumboil insisted.

"I can't tone down the witnesses," Draco explained, feeling exasperated. "All I'm doing is asking them questions. They are answering with the fullest amount of truth that they can, which is exactly what they should be doing. It just so happens that, in this case, the truth is a little more gruesome and hard to stomach than most court cases."

"Good afternoon Mister Malfoy," Gumboil said and walked away.

Draco stood there fuming for a few minutes. Had that man even heard a word that he had said? Draco had always thought that Gumboil was a reasonable man, now he knew that he was just as ignorant as many of the other people who worked in the Ministry.

Draco finally forced himself into motion. He desperately hoped that Hermione would still be sitting in that courtroom. He wouldn't even know where to begin to look if she wasn't in there anymore. He hurried back out into the massive courtroom and looked around.

"Damn!" he swore, causing the head's of the cleaning staff to turn his way. Besides them, the room was empty.

* * *

><p>AN: Thank you all for waiting so patiently for this chapter! As soon as I got back from vacation I become very sick. I could barely even think let alone write anything that made sense. After I was feeling better, it had been so long since I had written that I had trouble just jumping back into it. It was made doubly difficult by how boring this chapter is. I'm looking forward to writing Draco and Hermione's conversation next chapter! Anyway, thanks, as always for reading and reviewing.<p>

Also, Happy Thanksgiving to any of my Canadian readers!


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Hermione leaned back against the wall in the hallway. It was completely deserted now. Why hadn't she, of all people, thought this through ahead of time? She had thought that her greatest trouble of the day would be getting to the Ministry. Then she had run into Ron, surely that would have been her greatest trouble. But no, her biggest problem was turning out to be that she couldn't even find the person she was trying to meet.

She heard footsteps at the end of the hall and turned her head quickly to see who was coming. It was hard to tell from such a distance, but they were wearing black, maybe it was Draco. She waited patiently, not wanting to call out to the person, since it could be anyone. As they got closer, she realized that it was actually a pretty woman with raven-black hair wearing a black robe. A member of the Wizengamot.

"You can't be down here now," the woman said as she passed.

"Actually," Hermione said. "I was just waiting for someone."

"The trial is over for the day, guests aren't allowed in the Ministry anymore without a proper visiting pass."

"I realize that, but I was supposed to meet someone after the trial and now I can't find him," Hermione said slowly.

"Well, you'll just have to wait somewhere else, this floor needs to be vacated."

"Hermione?" she heard from behind her.

Hermione and the woman turned abruptly toward the voice. Hermione breathed a sigh of relief to see Draco standing behind her. She also noticed the look of surprise on the woman's face as she realized who Hermione was meeting.

"Good trial today Draco," the woman said, all of the anger now gone from her voice.

"Thank you Annette," Draco said with an almost undetectable coldness in his voice.

"Maybe you'd like to get together over coffee to discuss it?" Annette asked, ignoring that Hermione was standing right beside her.

"I'm sorry but I have other plans," Draco said easily.

Hermione couldn't believe this woman. What was she doing? Wasn't it obvious that _she _was going somewhere with Draco? Why was this woman trying to interrupt his plans?

"Of course," Annette said, turning a cold gaze on Hermione. "Perhaps tomorrow."

"I think I'll be busy then too," Draco said.

Hermione nearly cringed at the tone of his voice. Couldn't this woman take a hint?

"Shall we?" Draco said, turning his attention back to Hermione.

"Of course," she said.

"Goodbye Annette," Draco said shortly.

It took Hermione a moment to realize that Draco had already started walking down the hall away from them. Annette was still standing there, practically fuming after him and glaring at Hermione as she followed Draco down the hall.

"Old friend?" she asked sarcastically, once they were out of hearing range.

"Not exactly," Draco said with a chuckle.

"Ex-girlfriend?" Hermione asked.

"Not quite," Draco said. "She's the daughter of one of my father's old colleagues."

Hermione knew then to drop the subject. She knew what kind of people his father's colleagues had been. She wondered briefly how a Death Eater's daughter had gotten a spot on the Wizengamot.

"I'm sorry we didn't organize this better," Draco said. "Were you waiting in the hallway long?"

"No," Hermione said with a shrug. "I waited in the courtroom until it was empty and then I got kicked out by the janitor."

"Wellesley?" Draco asked. "He doesn't like people in his way while he's trying to clean."

"I gathered that," Hermione said.

"Are you hungry?" Draco asked. "I was thinking we could go and get coffee, but I wasn't sure if you had a chance to eat earlier."

"Actually, I'm starving. Coffee and a sandwich sounds good if there's anything close by," she said.

"I know a place," Draco said, leading her into the elevator.

"I didn't get a chance to have lunch," Hermione said without elaborating.

Hermione wondered briefly why they were making small talk. The needed to _talk. _ She had to admit, the conversation that they needed to have wasn't really appropriate for the Ministry of Magic. It wasn't really appropriate for a coffee shop either, but she would take what she could get.

Draco was silent as they walked out of the Ministry and she began to wonder how awkward this conversation would be. She hoped that Draco would be honest with her this time and that they could get everything out in the open. All of the questions had been driving her crazy for the last few months and she was letting herself get her hopes up that she would soon have someone to discuss them with.

"Did you enjoy the trial today?" Draco asked as they walked side-by-side behind Diana's stroller.

"I'm not sure if enjoy is the right word," Hermione said, thinking of the horror stories she had heard that morning. "It was eye-opening though. The witnesses' stories made me think, I hope that they did the same for some of the others in the room."

"That's my hope too," Draco said, surprised that she had hit right on his exact feelings. "Everyone knows that the trial is really just a formality, but I like to get all of the facts and horrors out in the open so that it might make others come forward with evidence against the Death Eaters that haven't been caught."

"Exactly," Hermione agreed. "Are you trying to get him the Dementor's Kiss?"

"I was trying," Draco said. "Gumboil came to me in the Chambers though and asked me to try and tone down the witnesses for tomorrow."

"What?" Hermione asked, shocked that the Head Warlock would even consider something like that.  
>"I know," Draco said. "I wasn't expecting it either. I just hope that I can still produce enough evidence to get him the punishment that he deserves."<p>

Hermione nodded thoughtfully.

"Here we are," Draco gestured to a small restaurant in front of them.

As they walked in, Hermione realized why Draco had chosen it. While it was only a few blocks from the Ministry, it was a muggle café. There wasn't much of a chance that they would run into anyone they knew and no one would be able to eavesdrop if they put up the right spells.

"Perfect," Hermione said, thinking out loud.

"I thought this was our best option," Draco said with a nod.

Without discussing it first, the pair automatically headed for a table in the darkest corner of the restaurant. It was surrounded by walls and empty tables. It would offer the most privacy for their conversation. Hermione sat down and then noticed that Draco was not beside her anymore. She turned to see him bringing a high chair over for Diana. Hermione smiled at his thoughtfulness. It would be nice for Diana to get out of her carrier.

As Draco came back, a waiter came over. He smiled at what he assumed was a happy young family as he passed them their menus. Draco didn't open his.

"Just a coffee please," he said, handing the menu back to him. "Black."

"I'll have a black coffee as well," Hermione said. "And I'll need a minute to look at the menu."

The waiter smiled and walked away to fetch their coffee.

"I've never been in a café that has waiters before," Hermione said.

"They have too many options to have people order at a counter," Draco said, gesturing to the menu.

As Hermione opened it, she saw what he meant. This restaurant had so many choices.

"Care to recommend anything?" Hermione said, not able to make a decision.

"The Shepherd's Pie is quite good," he said.

Hermione had been considering that herself and decided to go for it. She was so hungry at this point that she would have eaten just about anything. When the waiter came back with their coffee, she told him her choice and he hurried away without even writing it down.

"I suppose we should stop beating around the bush," Draco said when he was gone.

"Yes," Hermione said, deciding to let Draco do the talking this time to avoid making herself out to be a fool.

"I lied to you when you came to my house," Draco said simply.

Hermione already knew this but she didn't say anything yet. This was a big step for Draco, admitting that he could possibly be insane. She could let him take a moment to compose himself.

"I have been having dreams," he paused again. "Dreams where you and I were married. Sometimes in the dreams we already have children, Diana and Logan, sometimes we don't. I dreamt of Diana's birth."

"So did I," Hermione said quietly. "When I woke from that dream I was in the hospital with Ron and Diana was born. I have no memory of her birth with Ron there, only with you."

"I brushed it off the first time I had a dream. It was odd, of course, for me to dream of you when I hadn't seen you since Hogwarts. It was even more peculiar when it happened again. I mean, no offence Hermione, you're beautiful, but you're not the kind of woman that I would normally have sexual dreams about."

"I can't imagine why I would have sexual dreams about you either," she said.

"That's the problem with them too, if they were just sexual dreams, I could almost explain it. But they aren't. We're married in these dreams, quite happily married, I've never imagined _that _while awake."

"And I am married," Hermione said. "I don't know why I would imagine being married to someone else."

Draco noted that she didn't say she was _happily_ married, but he didn't comment on it.

"And then when you showed up at my house with Diana, I immediately recognized her as the baby girl from the dream, I was floored," Draco said, running a hand through his blond hair.

"Why did you lie Draco?" Hermione asked softly. "Do you know how hard it was for me to come to you that way?"

"I know and I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't know what to say. I had spent so long telling myself that the dreams meant nothing, that I was just stressed about work, that I couldn't react when I saw her. I hadn't entertained the idea that the dreams could be real and my brain just wasn't ready to process it."

"Well, that's nice for you," Hermione said, suddenly feeling angry. "I haven't had that luxury. I've been fighting my thoughts since I found out I was pregnant. I've been fighting to hold my marriage together with a husband that was already convinced that I was cheating on him and then even more convinced when he went behind my back to have a DNA test done."

"Wait, Weasley had a DNA test done?" Draco asked.

"Yes, he did and now he's left the house until I can move my things out of it," Hermione said bitterly.

"So the test…it showed that Diana is definitely not Weasley's?"

"No, she's not his," Hermione said.

Draco suddenly had mixed feelings. The impossibility of all of this was still weighing him down. He had still had, in the back of his mind, a slight suspicion that Diana might be Ron's. Now that the suspicion was gone he had to accept that this child was really is, that this was really happening. He felt a sharp fear at what that meant for them and for the Wizarding World, this was uncharted territory. On the other hand, he also felt a burst of excitement at the idea of having a daughter.

"So this is really happening then," Draco said, shaking his head.

"Yes," Hermione said firmly. "I don't know how or why it's us, but it's happening. I've never heard of anything like this before. I've been trying to do some research on dreams, but my resources are rather limited right now. Most of the books I have at the house are about potions and ingredients, not theoretical magic or dreams."

Draco could feel the frustration radiating off of her, and he could only imagine what she had been going through the last year. The confusion that must have gone through her head during the pregnancy and then finally the shock when she had seen Diana for the first time. Then for Weasley to go out and get a DNA test and find that Diana wasn't his child after all…the whole thing must have been rather traumatic for all of them.

"I'm really sorry that I lied to you," he said, looking down into his coffee. "You shouldn't have had to deal with all of this on your own."

"Well, at least I've had months to think through it all. You're having it all thrown at you right now, it can't be easy."

"No, it's not easy, but it's exciting," he said and after a moment's hesitation: "I can't believe I have a daughter who is nearly six months old and I don't even know her at all."

Hermione recoiled slightly from the table and Draco wondered what he had said that was wrong. She _was _awfully protective of Diana, maybe she was afraid he was going to try to take her away.

"I'm not going to try to take her from you Hermione, if that's what you're worried about," he said.

"No, that's not it at all, I just didn't think that you would want to have a part in her life," Hermione said.

"Why would you think that?" Draco said defensiveness in his voice. "If she is my daughter, we can have a DNA test if you're not sure, I definitely want to be her Daddy. She needs one."

Hermione was speechless. _Who_ _was_ this man? She had dreamt of Draco and she knew that the man from the dreams was different from the man from Hogwarts. She had selfishly thought that his dream-personality was so different because he had been married to her. She hadn't expected this real-life Draco to be so similar to the one from the dreams. What had changed him from that pompous jerk they had known in school to this powerful, yet gentle man, who wanted to be a father to her child?

"Alright," Hermione said finally. "If you want to be a part of her life, you certainly can. You're right that she needs a father and she hasn't really had one up until now. Ron just wasn't able to put aside his fears or his feelings and be her Daddy."

This was certainly not the conversation that Hermione had thought they would be having today and she tried desperately to figure out how to get it back on track.

"I think we should have a DNA test done anyway," Draco said suddenly.

"What?" she asked.

"Just to make sure she is mine," Draco said.

"There hasn't been anyone else," Hermione said through her teeth, her frustration was rising again and she was almost ready to swear off men forever. "Do you think I cheated on Ron too?"

"No," Draco said. "I just think we should make sure, not leave any loose ends at all when we go into our research."

"Go into our research?" Hermione repeated.

"Well yes, isn't that why you wanted to speak with me? So we could figure this out together?"

"I didn't expect anything from this Draco," Hermione said. "I was looking for some answers, some validation really. I just wanted to be sure that I wasn't going crazy. I didn't expect all of this to come from you."

"Well, now that I know that what is happening to us is real, I want to research and study it to the end. Nothing like this has ever happened before, this kind of magic is groundbreaking. I want to find out why it's happening and why it's happening to us of all people."

"Okay, Okay," Hermione said, feeling a surge of relief that she wasn't going to be wading through this mess alone anymore.

"As soon as this trial is over, we'll get right to it. The way things are going and from what Gumboil said, I think that the trial will probably wrap up tomorrow or the day after. I'm going to end up omitting some of my witnesses," he said sadly.

"It's unfortunate really," Hermione said. "But at least it means that we'll be able to research these dreams. When I go home tonight, I'm going to write down everything I remember about the three of them so that when we start the research, I have a good account of everything."

"Three?" Draco asked, a startled look coming over his face. "You've only had three?"

"Yes, why?" Hermione asked. "How many have you had?"

"At least six," Draco said. "When was your first one?"

"Just over a year ago," she said. "The one that I think Diana was conceived in. Although it's strange, in that dream both of the children were already born."

"I remember that one…" Draco said. "I've had two since that one, the other ones were all before that. That's very strange."

"Very strange," Hermione said, still thinking over the details of her own dreams. "I have a question for you."

"Sure," Draco said.

"Do you have a picture hanging on the landing on your stairs?"

"Yes, why?" Draco asked, wondering what this had to do with anything.

"What is it?" Hermione asked.

"It's a picture of me with my parents on my first day of school."

"That's fitting," Hermione said with a smile.

"Why do you want to know?" Draco asked, confused.

"Oh, in all of the dreams I had, I would see the picture and then be able to judge what timeframe I had dropped into."

"Wait, you checked it see what you had dropped into?" Draco asked. "So you were aware of the fact that the dreams were dreams?"

"Yes," Hermione admitted. "You weren't?"

"No, my dreams weren't lucid, I didn't control anything in them. They were just like normal dreams for me. My thoughts and memories in the dream even belonged to my dreamself."

"So that's why, in the dreams, you always seemed fully submerged, just like a character in any of my regular dreams."

"This keeps getting more bizarre," Draco said. "Things just don't add up. I've had twice as many dreams as you and you were actually aware that the dreams weren't real."

"During the first dream I was really confused to wake up in your house. I thought something had happened to me and that I had amnesia or something," Hermione said with a smile.

"So wait," Draco said, a smirk creeping onto his face and reminding Hermione of older days. "You knew that it was a dream and were aware of what you were doing, and you still had sex with me?"

"Well, yeah," Hermione said, a dark crimson spreading to her cheeks. "You were doing things and I…"

"Stop," Draco said laughing and holding a hand up. "It's alright, I'm just teasing."

"Thank you," she said.

"I won't tell your husband," he said with what could only be described as a snort.

"Stop making fun of me!" she said, reaching across the table to smack him.

He would have made another comment if the waiter hadn't come back at that exact moment with Hermione's Shepherd's Pie. She immediately turned away from him and began eating, avoiding all conversation.

"Did you say that Weasley is kicking you out?" Draco asked, remembering something she had said earlier.

"Well, our house is on his parents' property," Hermione explained between bites. "He's moved back in with his parents and asked me to move out sometime in the next few days. It's fair, but I really haven't had time to look for a flat yet. I need to contact Ron and find out how we're dividing all of the stuff. A lot of the baby things were given to us by his mother, they're hand-me-downs, so I don't know if he'll want me to take them or not. He has no use for them right now, maybe I could borrow them until I can get new things…" Hermione trailed off as she realized that she was rambling.

"You could stay with me," Draco said.

"No, I can't, I won't impose on you that way," she said immediately.

"It wouldn't be imposing, it would be convenient," he explained. "I want to get to know Diana and it would be easier to do our research without having to deal with poorly planned meetings."

"No," Hermione insisted. "It really wouldn't be appropriate. I appreciate the offer, but I'm going to try and find my own place."

"Okay," Draco said. "The offer will still stand though in a few days if you can't find your own place."

"Thank you," Hermione said, swearing to herself that she would find a place to live tomorrow. She was not going to force herself into the lives of any more men. She had to be independent and teach her daughter that women could be strong too. They didn't need to have men doing everything for them.

Draco felt an unexplained surge of disappointed as Hermione declined his offer. He found now that he was thinking of the dreams as real, he was dreading going home to that big house by himself. It would have been nice to have a woman and a child there with him. He smiled slightly at the thought that it would also be only too easy for he and Hermione to slip into their dreamselves' lives.

* * *

><p>AN: I hope that was up to all of your expectations. I fought my way through that entire scene to try and make it not awkward. I have to admit…I have problems with dialogue! I hope that it came out ok.<p>

I also have to admit, I've written this story almost up until the point that I had planned for it when I began writing it. It's getting more and more difficult to write because I'm just not completely sure where it's going right now. Please stay with me through this and let me know if you think something is stupid or needs to be fixed.

I'm at the point in this story (about the halfway point) where I always start feeling like my writing is crap and is never going to go anywhere. I will push through it though and finish this story though, even if I think it's crap, I hope you guys like it!

I'm going to be doing Nanowrimo again this year, so I probably won't be writing any chapters of this during the month of November. My plan is to push out two more chapters during the next week that I can then edit and upload during November to keep you guys happy, before jumping back into this story in December.

As always, thank you to everyone for reading and for reviewing this story. You guys keep me going!


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Hermione awoke the next morning to a soft, tapping sound. Se sat up groggily and wiped the sleep from her eyes. She felt like she had been run over by the Knight Bus. The last few days had been much too stressful and now she had a day of apartment-hunting ahead of her. And what was that noise? She looked blearily around the room until her eyes finally rested on the window. There was an owl banging its beak against the glass.

She pulled herself from the bed and stumbled to the window. She grabbed the wooden edge and hefted it upwards. Before she even had it open all the way, the owl was swooping into the room. It flew around for a moment and Hermione ducked her head as it swished past her and sent her hair flying before finally coming to rest on the lamp beside her bed. It held its leg out impatiently and she untied the scroll with fumbling fingers.

_Hermione,_

_I hope this letter finds you well, I have worried a little about you the last few days. I have included with this letter the work that needs to be completed. I am slightly distraught over the fact that none of the work that I have sent you over the last two days has been finished. If you need a break from the work, please do let me know._

_Warn._

Hermione groaned and put a hand to her forehead. Somehow, during the chaos of the last two days she had forgotten to complete the work that Warn had sent her. She would love to write him back and say that yes, she did need some time off, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. Warn had been more than accommodating for the last year and she owed it to him to keep doing the research work that he sent. Besides, now that she was a single mother, she desperately needed the money.

As she left the room, she realized that she now had three days of work to do as well as an apartment-hunt. Hermione now felt very relieved that she had told Draco yesterday that she wouldn't be able to make it to the second day of the trial. She hoped that things were going well for him at least.

* * *

><p>Draco felt about ready to leap up onto the platform and strangle Gumboil. When he had arrived at the Ministry that morning he had been given a revised list of witnesses. Gumboil had pulled more than half of them from the docket. Draco knew now that he had little hope of proving that the Death Eater deserved the Dementor's Kiss.<p>

Now they were sitting through the first witness's testimony. It was a man whose entire family had been tortured by Lestrange. It was an important testimony because Lestrange hadn't been the only Death Eater responsible for the crime. Draco had hoped that this would bring even more awareness to the crowd that any evidence was important evidence and that they needed to fight their fears and come forward.

Listening now, Draco had a sinking suspicion that Gumboil had somehow gotten to this witness. While the man was honestly answering Draco's questions as the spell forced him to do, he wasn't elaborating as much as he should be. Every time Draco brought up any of the other Death Eaters that were there, the man evaded the questions and talked mostly about Lestrange, barely mentioning what any of the others had done.

Draco wondered, for the first time, what Gumboil hoped to accomplish here. Was it just that he wanted to wrap the trial up quickly and not expose the crowd to more grisly details than they needed to? Or did he have another ulterior motive? Was he trying to stop the imprisonation of Death Eaters? Draco tuned out of the testimony and looked around the room.

He examined all of the faces on the Wizengamot's bench. Now that he was thinking about it, a lot of them seemed to be questionable choices for the Wizarding World's court system. Who had voted all of these people in? Draco remembered when the vote had been taken a few years before, it was around the same time that they had decided to change their robe colours from purple to black. If he remembered correctly, the members were voted in by a council of Ministry officials and retired Wizengamot members. He made a mental note to look up who had been residing on the council at the time.

Just thinking about those things sent a chill up Draco's spine. Was their court system corrupt? How was he supposed to get people their just punishments if the Wizengamot was fighting against him? There was no other force that could imprison these types of criminals. If his instincts proved to be correct, this could mean horrible things for the future of the Wizarding World.

* * *

><p>When Hermione had finally sent all of the research back to Warn she felt even more exhausted then before. She sent a note along with it apologizing for her lapse in work and also apologizing if the quality of her work was not up to par. She had a lot on her mind, she had explained. She had worked diligently all morning, pausing only for a small lunch and to spend a few short moments with Diana who was in a bouncer across the room from where Hermione was working.<p>

By the time she was finished it was already past two in the afternoon and it was time to start looking for a place to live. She started with the Daily Prophet classifieds section. She was disappointed to see that there wasn't much available in her price range. Her salary as a Potions Tester was relatively modest already and she had taken a pay cut while she was on her extended maternity leave.

While she was looking, she kept in mind that she couldn't afford to spend much more than six or seven hundred pounds a month on rent (or about one hundred to a hundred and fifty Galleons depending on where she moved). This narrowed down her options greatly and eliminated certain cities (such as London) completely. There were no listings for anything in Exeter where she was currently living.

There was one flat that looked promising in Tiverton, which was quite close to Exeter. She called ahead and the woman on the phone said that the two-bedroom was available and when would she like to come and look at it? Hermione told her immediately. The flat was only one hundred and twenty Galleons a month, which fit in her budget.

She got Diana out of her bouncer and pulled the quill out of her hair before heading for the fireplace in the sitting room. The landlady had informed her that while there were no fireplaces in the building, there was a Floo Station within walking distance of it. She hurried through the fireplace with Diana securely strapped into her stroller.

As soon as she stepped out of the fireplace on the other side, she knew that this was not the kind of neighbourhood that one raised a child in. The buildings around her were crumbling and it didn't look like anyone cared a bit. She could see that there were even two or three buildings around that were condemned, their boarded up windows glaring at her in the sunlight. There was a liquor store right next to the Floo Station that had four burly men hanging around outside.

Hermione started down the street and hoped that the apartment building was close. It would still be worth it to take a look, maybe it wouldn't be as bad a few blocks down as it was where she was standing. She pushed Diana's stroller quickly and kept her head down. She didn't want to attract the attention of the men that were drinking their booze out of paper bags in front of the store.

When she reached the building, she looked up in disappointment. It wasn't any better than any of the other buildings on the street. It was made from crumbing red bricks and the window in the front door had a large crack down the middle that was covered in tape. The bottom step was completely collapsed and Hermione had to carefully maneuver the stroller up the rest of them. With every step she heard the old wooden stairs creaking and was terrified that she was going to fall right through and break an ankle.

She rang the doorbell and immediately heard a dog barking through an open window on the second floor. She heard a voice yelling at the dog to shut up, but it didn't stop. Finally the door was opened by a stumpy woman who matched the typical muggle stereotype of a witch. The woman had frizzy black hair, a long nose and even a mole on her left cheek. She smiled down at Diana and Hermione noticed that she was missing one of her front teeth.

"Hermione Weasley?" the woman croaked, holding the door open for them.

"Yes, we're here to look at the two bedroom that you have available?" Hermione said, hesitantly stepping inside.

The inside looked only slightly better than the outside. It was clean at least although Hermione could see that part of the ceiling was collapsing due to years of water damage, probably from someone's unfixed and leaky bathtub. The landlady led Hermione across the creaking floor of the lobby to a staircase that, thankfully, looked to be sturdy. Hermione levitated the stroller and made to follow the crone up the stairs.

"The unit is on the second floor," she explained.

"Next to the one with the dog?" Hermione asked, feeling worse about this by the minute.

"Yes, but he don't bark too much," the woman said with a hacking laugh that made Hermione doubt what she was saying.

Once they had entered the flat, Hermione was certain that they would not be living here. She decided to let the woman show them around anyway. The faucet on the tub in the bathroom was so rusted that Hermione suspected that it was the reason for the water damage on the floor below. The grime built up in the toilet was so bad that Hermione was certain she could use it to make a potion that would kill a bull with one drop. The apartment was fully furnished and there were stains on the mattresses that Hermione didn't even want to contemplate. The refrigerator reeked as if the previous tenants had moved out ten years ago and left all of their food behind. Hermione could swear that she had seen mouse droppings when the landlady had opened one of the squeaky cupboards.

"So, when you want to move in?" the lady asked.

"Excuse me?" Hermione said, turning her head away from the indistinguishable stain on the living room carpet.

"When do you want to move in?' the lady repeated slowly, as if she were speaking to an idiot. "Friday?"

"Um," Hermione said, looking around one more time. "I don't think we'll be taking it actually. Thank you for taking the time to show us around."

"Humph," the woman said with a sniff of her nose. "Just know, you ain't gonna find anything better for this price."

"I'll certainly try," Hermione said under her breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing," Hermione said. "Thank you again for your time."

* * *

><p>Draco left the Ministry late that afternoon feeling dejected. He had done everything he could, the trial was over. The Wizengamot would deliberate that evening and announce the verdict in the morning. He was tempted to call Hermione to see how the apartment hunt was going, but he didn't want to pry into her life.<p>

Now that he knew that Diana was his child, he had begun to feel a sense of protectiveness overnight. She was his child and although Hermione was not his wife the way she was in his dreams, she was still the mother of his baby. He found himself secretly hoping that Hermione would not find a place to live and that they would have to come and stay with him. After thinking that, he immediately chastised himself. If Hermione wanted to have her own place to live, she should have her own place.

But…If Diana was going to be spending any time at his home, which she should be since she was his daughter, then he should have things there for her when she came to visit. Maybe a little shopping would cheer him up after a day like the one he had had. He had never gone shopping for baby things before, but the idea actually excited him. He could already imagine the things that he would buy for his daughter…

* * *

><p>Hermione's hopes were dwindling as she put Diana back into her bouncer. She had looked through all of the magic listings that she could find, now she was going to look at all of the muggle ones. She booted up the old computer that she rarely used and started her search immediately. Her internet was very slow and it took the local ads website a long time to open up. She called the first one that looked good and was close by.<p>

"Hello, I'm calling to inquire about the two-bedroom apartment for seven hundred a month?" she asked when the landlord answered.

"Yep, it's still available. Did you want to come and see it?"

"Sure, my daughter and I can come by in an hour or so if that's alright," Hermione said.

"Your daughter?" the landlord said hesitantly. "How old is she?"

"She's six months old," Hermione said, wondering why the man cared.

"And your husband?"

"Oh, I don't have a husband," Hermione said. "We're separated."

"You know, today is actually very busy, I have a lot of other people coming to see the apartment. If it's still available at the end of the day, I'll give you a call."

"Oh-" Hermione didn't get a chance to say anything else because the man had already hung up.

Hermione was a little confused by his reaction but decided to just go back to her search. She was surprised to find that she got similar reactions from a lot of people that she called. "Oh…a baby?" "No husband you say?" "A single mother…". No one seemed to be very open to having a young woman and an infant staying in their building. Hermione was about to give up for the day when the phone rang again. Maybe it was one of the landlords calling back to say that they had an opening after all.

"Hello?" she said.

"Hermione?" it was Ron.

"Yes," she said.

"I'm sorry to bug you, but have you found a place yet?"

"No Ron, I haven't. I've been looking all day with no luck. None of the Wizarding buildings are in good neighbourhoods and the muggle ones don't want to take in a single mother with a low-paying job."

"Oh, I'm really sorry to bother you any more about it, but my mum is bugging me to ask you to leave."

"Your mum?" Hermione said, feeling her anger rising.

"Well, we've got some family coming to stay and there really isn't room for me to stay at the house. You know how mum is."

Hermione did. "You could come back and stay at the house while I'm looking for a place."

"You know I can't do that Hermione. I'm really sorry to do this to you, but I really need you to be out by tomorrow so that I can move back in."

"Alright," she said. "I'll try to think of something." She went to hang up the phone and realized that Ron was still speaking.

"There's just one more thing. You have to understand Hermione that it's my mum…I told her what's been going on and she's really angry. She wants all of the baby stuff that she gave you back."

Hermione felt about ready to burst into tears. "This isn't fair Ron. I have no where to go and now you're asking me to return almost all of Diana's things."

"Not all of her things!" Ron protested. "Just the ones mum gave you, the hand-me-downs. She wants me to have them for my kids."

"And Diana's not your kid, I get it Ron. I'll give back the crib and the high-chair."

"And the handmade blankets and clothes as well," Ron said. "Oh and she wants all of the baby food that she canned as well, says she's going to give it to Ginny and Harry."

"Alright Ron!" she yelled. How was he so oblivious? Didn't he realize that her life was being turned upside down? All he could worry about was some damn canned food! "You know what, I'll just pack up all of the stuff that I bought or that my parents bought and take it. I'll leave the rest of it in the house, okay?"

"That would be perfect Hermione. Thanks for being so understanding."

"No problem, goodbye Ron," she said and made to hang up the phone again.

"Bye Hermione, and you'll be moved out in the morning right?"

Hermione didn't answer, she just hung up the phone and screamed into the empty kitchen. She took some calming breaths and collected her scrambled thoughts. She shouldn't be blaming Ron. In his opinion, and in his family's opinion, she had seriously wronged him. It was only fair that she return the baby things and move out of the house, even if she didn't have anything to replace those things with or a place to go and live.

She looked at Diana across the room and looked back at the list of numbers that she had called today and was reminded of her utter failure to find somewhere for them to live. She tangled her hand in her hair and let out a frustrated groan before finally picking up the phone again.

* * *

><p>AN: sorry for the lack of updates guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter though.<p>

I have been working hard since the beginning of November on my Nanowrimo novel. If you guys don't know what Nanowrimo is, I suggest heading over to their website and definitely consider doing it next year. It is a month of noveling insanity. You have to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. It's a great way to actually sit down and get some serious writing done and it's a lot of fun even though sometimes it makes you want to throw the computer out the window…

Anyway, I'm hoping to get another chapter of this story out before the end of November but I won't make any promises on that. I will promise to get back into it in December though. My brain will be hardwired from Nano by then to be writing every day so it shouldn't be too hard.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The phone call that Hermione had made to Draco hadn't been as embarrassing as she had thought it was going to be. Besides, she was starting to get used to doing embarrassing things in front of him. The scary thing was, she was also starting to get used to the idea that it didn't really matter if she embarrassed herself, he wasn't going anywhere.

She was now quickly trying to pack her things, but it wasn't working out the way she had planned. Diana had been fussy all morning and Hermione was having to run between the box of books she was trying to pack and Diana's nursery to tend to her. She had just decided that she was just going to bring Diana into her own room so that she could try and get her to sleep in her bed when the phone rang.

"Bloody hell!" she yelled, turning to reach for the phone.

That had been the other problem this morning. Ron had called about ten times already. She didn't understand why Ron wasn't at the murder trial this morning like everyone else was, but apparently he wasn't. She found herself wishing that Draco could have come and helped her pack this morning, but she knew that he had to be at the Ministry for at least a few hours to hear the verdict on Lestrange.

"Hello Ron," she said, hoping that the frustration she was feeling with him was evident in her voice. "What is it this time?"

"Oh, well, I was just wondering when George and I will be able to come by."

"I told you earlier Ron, if you want to come and start moving the baby stuff back into your parents' storage room, that's fine, come whenever you want. I also told you earlier that you're going to have to wait to come and move the other stuff around. I can't have you moving your dresser back in and changing things around while I'm still trying to get my stuff out of here. Besides, it would be nice if you could come over here and help me figure out what I should be taking and what I should be leaving!"

Hermione was extremely frustrated with her almost-ex-husband as she hung up the phone. She would have been twice as far along in her packing if he would stop calling and asking questions every five minutes. She would probably be done packing by now if he would have come over and helped her. She wasn't lying, she was having trouble sorting through all of their belongings and deciding what to take. They had been married for five years, they had accumulated a lot of things together.

She shrugged as she picked up another book that had been given to the two of them by Ginny a few years earlier. If Ron wanted it, he should have been here to claim it, she thought to herself. And besides, since when did Ron read? He would never notice that she had taken it with her.

She waved her wand and sealed the box over top of the books that were in it. Glancing around the bedroom, she saw that it was nearly empty of her things. It was a good thing that she was so organized, she was moving along surprisingly quickly, all things considered. As she moved into the kitchen, she knew that she wouldn't have to pack much here. She knew from experience (sort of) that Draco had a well-stocked kitchen. She didn't need to take any of her appliances or dishes with her. She could leave all of those things for Ron to use.

There was one thing that she did want though. She opened the cupboard and pulled out the delicate, antique teapot that her Nana Granger had given her as a wedding gift. She cradled it in her arms for a moment and wished for the hundredth time that her Nana was still around. Hermione loved her parents, but it was her Nana that she had always been able to go to with anything. Her parents had been happy to find out that their daughter was a witch, but it had taken them a while to adjust. Not Nana, she had been thrilled and totally comfortable with it from the start. Hermione knew that if her Nana were still alive, she would be able to sit with her and tell her everything that had been going on for the past few months.

Hermione wiped a stray tear from her face as she nestled the teapot into its box. She pulled out the matching cups and saucers as well as the cream and sugar dishes and put them into the box. She and Ron had not used the tea set once since they had been married. Ron hated tea and Hermione would never use her fancy things just on herself. Hermione paused to wonder for a moment if Draco liked tea and if they would use her tea set in their home.

Hermione quickly shook her head, _their_ home? She had meant to think of it as _his _home of course. She had to remind herself that she was just going to stay with Draco for a little while. She wasn't moving in permanently and their dreams were not real. She and Draco would simply be roommates, friends at best. Hermione sealed up the box and used her wand to levitate it onto the pile of her belongings in the corner.

It was a pretty pathetic pile, if she were being honest with herself. It was amazing that she and Ron had such a full (some would even consider it cluttered) house and yet she had so few things of her own. She had her books (which took up more than half of the boxes) and her clothes as well as some of her potions equipment that she didn't keep at work and not much else. She had very few personal belongings to speak of. Hermione had never been one to own idle things simply for amusement, but it was a little depressing that she didn't have at least a painting, a lamp or even any knick-knacks that were her own.

Hermione walked through the house and surveyed her surroundings. She was pretty sure that she had all of her things, but she didn't want to forget anything just in case. She was sure that Ron would let her come back to get anything that she forgot, but she would rather not have to do that. When she was sure that there was nothing of hers left in any of the rooms, she went into Diana's room. She had been leaving it for last because she knew that it was going to be the hardest room to do. So many of Diana's belongings were actually the Weasleys' and Hermione knew that most of it would have to be left behind. She also knew that she was going to have to start fresh and buy Diana more things. Even more than these two things, Hermione was aware that there was no way that she could afford to do that.

She felt her eyes tear up again. How could the Weasleys' be so cruel as to take all of her daughter's things from her? Hermione did start crying again with anger at herself this time. The Weasleys weren't being cruel she reminded herself. They were trying to protect their son. In their eyes, Hermione had done a terrible thing to Ron and so she should be punished, but it reality she hadn't done what they thought. There was no way to explain that to them though, so Hermione was just going to have to figure things out herself from now on.

She glanced down at Diana who was now sleeping peacefully. Hermione hadn't heard her cry again after she had gotten off of the phone with Ron, so she had never bothered moving her into the other bedroom. Hermione hoped that her daughter wouldn't wake up while she was packing up her things. She didn't want Diana to see that, even if she didn't understand what was going on.

Hermione had just opened the first of Diana's drawers and was beginning to look through, mentally storing which things had been given to them by the Weasleys and which things had come from her family and wondering if she should take the things that Ginny and Harry had given them, when she heard the side door opening. She walked out of the nursery quickly and hurried down the hall. She found Ron and George standing in her kitchen.

"'Lo Hermione," George said, looking only slightly awkward next to his brother.

"Hello George, Ron," she said, nodding towards him.

"Hi," Ron said, looking much more uncomfortable than George. That shouldn't have surprised her, she had yet to see anything that could make George Weasley truly uncomfortable.

"Come back to the nursery, you might as well get started moving things out," Hermione said, wanting them to get down to business before they had a chance to get distracted by something.

"How's the packing going?" Ron asked as they walked back down the hall.

"Pretty well, I think I have all of my things packed," Hermione said. "I just have Diana's things left."

"I'm sorry if it feels like I'm rushing you Hermione," Ron said.

"It's alright," Hermione said tightly.

"I'm just kind of in a rush to get moved back in. I know how hard this is for you."

Hermione tried to smile. As angry as she was, she could understand where Ron was coming from. He wanted to get back out of his parents' house and she was in his way. From his point of view, it probably seemed like she was taking a long time to get out of his house. While he had been rushing her, he had also been relatively understanding each time that she had yelled at him for it. He had shown up when she had asked him to after all.

Hermione came around the corner into the nursery to see George leaning over Diana's crib. Her anger softened for just a moment. She could hear George speaking softly to the infant, who had just woken up, and saw him reach a finger down to tickle her belly. Hermione had to remember that even though Ron had probably known for a while that Diana wasn't his, the rest of his family still loved her like one of their own. George noticed that the two were staring at him and he quickly straightened up.

"So, what are we moving?" he said, looking around the nursery.

Hermione tried her best not to watch as Ron and George efficiently removed all of Diana's things from the room. They used their wands to hover everything through the house and onto the lawn, so by the time they were done, Hermione was the only one who had broken a sweat. As Hermione sealed the last box and surveyed the room, now empty besides the crib in which Diana still lay, and wondered what Ron would use this spare room for now.

She quickly shook the thought from her head. She and Ron were getting a divorce. It was none of her business what he did with the room. He could turn it into a brothel or a museum for Star Wars figurines for all she cared. She lifted Diana out of the crib and folded up the bedding that had been underneath her. She then walked back out into the kitchen, Diana propped on her hip.

She found the brothers in front of the counter, gulping down water from the tap. She glanced at the microwave behind George (she had insisted on having one even though Ron had never been able to figure out how to use it.) and caught a glimpse of the time. How could it have gotten so late already, what time was Draco going to arrive? He hadn't given her an exact time but she was assuming that it would be soon. She needed to get George and Ron out of here quickly. Unfortunately for her, Ron decided that now was the perfect time for small talk.

"So where are you moving too anyway? Did you find a place?" Ron asked.

Hermione had to think quickly to come up with an answer. Why hadn't she thought of this before? Where was she supposed to tell everyone that she was going? Where was Draco, on his way here? Should she tell Ron that she was going to stay with a friend? No, he would certainly ask which friend. They had all of the same friends. Should she say that she was staying with Shannon from work? Ron would never believe that, he knew she wasn't all that friendly with anyone from her work.

"I found a flat," she said.

"Oh yeah, where?" Ron said. Hermione knew that he was just curious, but it was beginning to sound like an interrogation. "You found something good, that you can afford?"

"Oh yes," she said, thinking quickly again while trying to sneak a glance out the window behind Ron. Would Draco realize that they were here and wait outside until they left? "Just outside of London actually. I got very lucky. I'm renting the upstairs of a house, a little old lady lives downstairs. It will be perfect for us."

Hermione tried not to jump out of her skin as she heard a noise outside. Was that Draco apparating into the backyard? She prayed that it wasn't and tried to continue the conversation.

"I've even started shopping for more baby things already, and moved them into the house," she lied, trying to pear past George to the side door. Was that blond hair through the window, or just the sunlight glinting off of the glass?

"That's good," Ron said, seeming to tire of the conversation. "Should we go George?"

"Oh I don't know," George said, waving a hand idly through the air. "I was so enjoying your awkward conversation with your ex here."

Ron's ears turned pink as he sputtered at his brother. Hermione had to stifle a laugh, her worries about Draco momentarily forgotten. They snapped back as this time she was sure that she had seen a blond head pass by the window above the sink.

"I'll walk you out!" she said, hurrying to the door. Draco was standing right on the other side of the glass!

She tried to catch his eye through the window, but he was looking down and couldn't see her. Suddenly a noise rang through the house, the doorbell! What was he thinking? Ron and George were standing right behind her now, talking quietly to each other. They hadn't looked out the window, not yet.

"Expecting someone?" Ron asked.

"No," Hermione said slowly, praying for Draco to look up.

As if he had heard her thoughts, his head finally snapped up from the ground. She saw his mouth open slightly as he realized who was standing right behind her. The next instant, he was gone.

"Are we going outside Hermione, or were we going to look at the door all day?" George asked, looking at her quizzically.

"Sorry," she muttered as she opened the door.

Thankfully, as the three stepped out into the sun, there was no sign of Draco. Ron and George waved goodbye as Hermione sunk down into the grass, still clutching Diana to her. It was hours later, or maybe only a few moments that Draco came and lifted the child from her arms and led her back into the empty house.

* * *

><p>Well, my apologies for such a short chapter after such a long absence, but I wanted to get something up. I've been living without Microsoft Word since just after the end of Nanowrimo in November and I can't tell you how frustrating that has been. Enough excuses though, I hate to make excuses and that it why I try not to make promises!<p>

Thank you all for being so patient (only had a few demanding reviews lol) most of you were very nice about my lack of updates. I appreciate all of your reviews (and even some private messages) and I'm glad to be back.

I'm not going to make any promises about my next update because I don't want to disappoint anyone, but I'm pretty sure that it won't be as long an absence as this was!


	11. Chapter 11

AN – Ok, I'm a liar, you guys probably thought that this chapter was never coming!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 11<strong>

Draco held Diana close to him as he stood in what used to be Hermione's kitchen. It was just Weasley's kitchen now and Draco knew that he needed to help Hermione get her things out quickly, before Ron decided to come back. Ron would find things out eventually, but now was certainly not the time.

Draco tore his gaze away from Diana's perfect, little face to look at Hermione, she seemed to be getting over some sort of panic attack. Her hair was a frizzed mess, she had obviously worked hard today to get all of her things packed so quickly. She was breathing deeply, probably still from that close encounter with the Weasley's. The way she looked brought Draco back to the terrible morning that he had. He shook his head, he didn't want to think about that just now.

"Hermione?" Draco said quietly after a few moments.

"Hmm?" she looked up at him.

"Are all of your things packed? Are you ready to go?"

"I think so," she said, gesturing to the small pile of boxes in the corner of the room.

"That's it?" Draco asked, surprised. "No furniture?"

"None of it is mine," she said quietly.

"That's fine, I have plenty," he said with a smile. He was beginning to see just how hard this was for her.

"How did the trial go?" she asked suddenly.

"Oh, let's talk about it later, we should get this stuff out of here." Draco didn't want to tell her anything that would just make her day worse.

He handed the baby back over to Hermione and then pulled his wand out of his pocket. He waved it at the small pile of boxes, knowing that they would have appeared instantly in the guest room that he had set up for her the night before.

"Do you want to apparate?" he asked uncertainly, glancing again at Diana.

"No," Hermione shook her head. "I don't like apparating with Diana, we can use the fireplace."

Hermione led Draco through the modest, but cozy house into the living room. The furniture was shabby, but somehow fit with the rest of the house, seeming to make it a nice place to live. Draco hoped that Hermione would be comfortable staying in his home. It wasn't exactly grand, but not particularly modest either.

Hermione reached her hand into a pot above the fireplace. He saw her shake her head. "I meant to tell Ron to get more Floo Powder and I forgot, I guess we'll just have to use the rest of it."

Draco reached around her and used his fingertips to scrape the last bit of Powder out of the jar. He was about to tell Hermione the name of his home when he noticed that she had already thrown her Floo Powder into the fire. As the flames turned colour and she stepped into the fire, he realised that she, of course, already knew the name of their home.

With a smile, Draco threw his own Powder into the fire.

"Wildhaven."

* * *

><p>When Hermione stepped out of Draco's fireplace, she was struck by the fact of how much things had changed since she had been here only a few days before. She still couldn't believe that she had come to Draco with that crazy story the way she had. It was nice to know that she still had some of her old Gryffindor bravery.<p>

"What are you smiling about?" Draco asked, standing beside her and brushing the soot off of his immaculate shoulder.

"Nothing," Hermione said, still smiling. "Do you mind if we sit for just a few minutes before I start unpacking? These last few days have been just exhausting."

"Of course," Draco said, sitting down on the couch.

As Hermione sat down opposite him, she began to wonder just what the hell she was thinking staying here. Of course, she had no where else to go and didn't have much choice, but she barely knew Draco! She liked to think that she knew his dreamself, but she really didn't. All she knew was that her dreamself loved him, that would have to be enough for the time being.

The two sat in silence just long enough for it to become an awkward pause. Hermione knew that she needed to say something and say something quick. These first few hours in a house together would set the standard for the weeks to come.

"How was the verdict?" she asked finally. Almost immediately, she wished that she hadn't. Draco's shoulders slumped as soon as she brought it up. Things must not have gone as he had wanted.

"Not good," he said with a sigh. "I just don't understand how things couldn't have gone exactly how I wanted them too!"

Hermione watched as Draco stood up and began to walk around the room. He wasn't speaking but he kept running one of his hands through his hair as if he didn't know where to start with what had happened.

"Sorry," she said. "If you don't want to talk about it-"

"No, I want to talk about it. I need to talk about it," he said.

Hermione didn't say anything else, she just sat with Diana and waited for him to speak.

"It just doesn't make any sense! Lestrange's lawyer didn't even do anything! I don't know how Gumboil could possibly have come up with the verdict that he did."

"So, Lestrange won't be getting the Dementor's Kiss?"

"The Dementor's Kiss?" Draco said, throwing his hands up. "He won't even be spending the rest of his life in Azkaban!"

"What?" Hermione asked, feeling shocked. "How is that possible? He's going free?"

"No, he's going to Azkaban, but he might as well be free," Draco said. "They're given him ten years in Azkaban and then they will give him another trial with a shot at Redemption."

Although Hermione's legal knowledge was limited, she knew that Redemption was similar to parole in the muggle world. Rodolphus Lestrange could easily be out of prison and back on the streets in ten years.

"What reason did Gumboil give for his verdict?" she asked.

"Well, first he discredited half of my witnesses."

"I thought everyone was under magical oath to tell the truth?"

"They are, but strange things seem to have happened overnight. All of Dr. Hopweather's records were destroyed in a fire yesterday."

"But his testimony?" Hermione asked. "Wouldn't that still count for something?"

"Without those records, the physical proof of what happened, his testimony is completely invalid."

"What about the rest of your witnesses?"

"The Wizengamot decided in a closed proceeding early this morning that muggles are no longer allowed to be witnesses in Magical cases. Miss Brown has had her memory erased of all of the happenings at her animal shelter by now."

"What about the man who testified to being tortured?"

"He was admitted to St. Mungo's last night into the ward for the Criminally Insane."

"Criminally?" Hermione asked.

"Even I can't figure that one out."

"And…and your father?" Hermione asked finally.

"He's a Death Eater," Draco said bitterly. "No one would listen to what he has to say. So all Gumboil had to go on were my witnesses from the second day, the ones he himself asked me to 'tone down'. I know you didn't see the second day of the trial, but it wasn't good."

"I still don't understand," Hermione said. "Lestrange was a known Death Eater, a supported of Voldemort, which alone is enough to get him a life sentence in Azkaban."

"It should have been," Draco said, finally sitting back down across from her. "I was thinking before, and now I think I must have been right, that there is corruption in the Wizengamot."

They were both silent for a moment as the reality of what this meant sank in to Hermione. If the Wizengamot was free to do whatever they wanted to whoever they wanted…The implications were startling. Innocent people could be put in Azkaban or even killed, while the Death Eaters, the murderers, went free.

"How did that happen?" Hermione asked finally.

"Did you get a good look at all of the people sitting on that bench the other day?" Draco asked.

"Yes," Hermione said thoughtfully. "I didn't recognize most of them."

"No," Draco said. "You wouldn't have, I did. Most of them are people who are connected somehow."

"Connected?" Hermione asked.

"Connected to the Dark Arts or the Dark Lord in some way."

"How did all of those people get elected to the Wizengamot?"

"I don't know," Draco said, standing up again. "I need to talk to Potter."

"Potter?" Hermione asked, feeling confused. "You mean Harry?"

"You know any other Potters?" Draco said with a smirk.

"You're going to go and talk to Harry?" Hermione asked. "Right now?"

"Not right this second, first I want to show you your room."

Hermione stood up to follow Draco out of the room. As she carried Diana through the house, she wondered what she was going to do with her. She was going to have to let her sleep on her bed with her until she could find a cheap crib to set up for her. As they reached the landing, she looked up with a smile at the photo of Draco with his parents on his first day of school. He looked exactly as she remembered him looking when they had first met. His hair was slicked back and he had a smug look on his face. She looked from him to his parents, comparing their similarities in the picture. She had always thought that he looked more like his father, but she could see much of him in the pretty angles of his mother's face as well.

"Are you coming?" Draco asked and Hermione realised that she had stopped to stare at the picture and that Draco was nearly at the top of the stairs.

She followed him down the plush-carpeted hallway to a room that she knew was across from his bedroom. He stopped in front of the door and hesitated with his hand on the knob. Hermione couldn't imagine what he was waiting for.

"I hope you like it. It's just a guest bedroom and I didn't have much time to set it up for you, with the trial going on."

"Draco, you're letting me stay in your home, I have no where else to go. If you let me sleep in a closet I would be happy with it."  
>Finally, Draco pushed the door open and Hermione looked inside. Just like every other room in this house, it was very light and airy. The large windows on two of the walls let the light in gave her a beautiful view of the grounds. The house was surrounded by a field on all sides and beyond the field was dark, dense forest. She knew that the grounds were magically enhanced. From the front of the house, it appeared that their closest neighbours weren't that far away. From here, it looked like no one else was around for miles.<p>

"Do you like it?" Draco asked.

Hermione tore her gaze from the window and surveyed the room. The furniture was white with dark purple accents. The bed had a luxurious, royal purple canopy and bedspread. She could see that all of her boxes were organised through the room. Her clothes were near the dresser, her books near the bookcase and her work things were stacked in their boxes beside a work table that sat under one of the windows.

"It's perfect," she said honestly. "But where are Diana's things?"

"Well," Draco said, suddenly looking embarrassed. "I don't know how long you will be staying here, but I hope that even after you leave, Diana will spend some time here."

"Of course," Hermione interjected.

"So I set up a nursery for her."

He gestured to a door that Hermione had assumed was a second closet. She now noticed that there was a lock on the door.

"You didn't have to do it right away," Hermione said. "We both could have stayed in here."

"I wanted to," Draco said honestly. "The other side of the nursery enters into my room, that's why I put you right across the hall. I put a lock on your side so that you don't have to worry about me."

"I trust you," Hermione said without thinking. She immediately realised that it was true. This man, who she barely knew, had welcomed her into his home and she trusted him completely with her life and, more importantly, her daughter's life.

"Would you like to see it?" Draco asked, breaking into her thoughts.

"Definitely," Hermione said, reaching for the door.

When she opened it, she got a glimpse into a nursery that was, literally, from her dreams. As she walked in she saw that it was almost near identical to the nursery that Draco had put together for her in this house in their dreams together. There was no rocking horse and there were no pictures on the walls of Hermione when she was pregnant or of her and Draco together, but other than that it was the same.

"How did you…when did you find the time…" Hermione trailed of in amazement.

"After the trial, I went shopping. I put it all together last night. I hope you were telling the truth in the dream when you said you liked it all."

"Like it? Draco, I love it! You shouldn't have done all of this. It's too generous!"

"Hey," Draco said, walking over and lifting the sleeping baby from Hermione's arms. "She's my daughter too."

* * *

><p>AN – I know, longest break ever! I'm sorry, truly, truly sorry! Thank you all for the kind reviews and private messages, nudging me along to finally get this written. If it weren't for you, it probably never would have been.<p>

I'm glad that so many people love this story and want to know what happens next. I was rereading it last night before I started writing again this morning to refresh my memory and I found myself dying to know what happens next as well!

Life has been crazy these last few months. I got married last month and then got promoted at my job right after. Things have finally started to settle down and I really want to start writing again. I don't want this story to be one of those stories that has months and month between updates.

Thank you all again for your encouragement, it means everything to me!

Also, somehow I managed to get two chapters written today. I guess six months of not writing builds up! I was going to tease you guys and wait a week to put it up, but I've decided that you waited long enough for this chapter. As soon as I've read it through one more time I will upload it. I really think that you will enjoy it! I certainly enjoyed writing it :)


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

The next morning Hermione woke up in Draco's guest bedroom feeling extremely rested. She got dressed and went down the stairs to find Draco in the kitchen cooking breakfast. She was about to tell him that he didn't need to cook breakfast for her when she realised that he was wearing nothing but a pair of black, silk boxer shorts.

"What are you doing!" she asked, trying to cover her eyes as he turned around.

"Making breakfast," he answered. "Why are you covering your eyes, are you still mad at me?"

"Mad at you? What are you talking about?"

"Last night, you blew up at me?" he said with a questioning tone. "Told me I was working too much and that I was never home when you needed me to be? You then proceeded to go and sleep in the guest room? Ringing any bells?"

_Not at all_, Hermione thought, realising that this was a dream. How weird was that? She was staying in Draco's house, in his guest room and then she has a dream that she is in Draco's house, sleeping in his guest room? It was too much for her to wrap her head around this early in the morning.

"Sorry," she said. "I overreacted, I'm not mad anymore."

"Good," he said, turning back to the eggs on the stove. "How is Diana this morning?"

"Oh no," Hermione said, standing up. "I didn't check on her before I came down!"

"Check on her?" Draco asked, turning around with a spatula in his hand. "You can do that while she's in there?" he waved the spatula in the general direction of her stomach.

"Oh right," Hermione said, realizing that she must be early on in her pregnancy in this dream.

"Well, it's good that you're not mad anymore, but I took the day off work to try and make it up to you. What am I supposed to do now?" he asked.

"Oh, you can keep trying to make it up to me," Hermione said, thinking of a hot breakfast. "I won't mind."

"Oh really?" he said, arching an eyebrow at her, clearly thinking of something more than breakfast. "What did you have in mind?"

_Oh shit_, Hermione thought. Before she had known that Draco was having the dreams too, she had gone along with everything in them. Now that she knew he was having them, even if he wasn't lucid in them, she would have to be more careful about what she did. She certainly couldn't have sex with him, he would wake up knowing that she had done it in the dream while she was aware of what was happening! Technically they had already had sex…Oh Merlin, this was too much.

"Uh, maybe you should get dressed!" she said, walking towards him. "I'll finish breakfast."

"What, you don't like what you see here? I'm offended!" he pretended to pout as he gestured to himself with the spatula. Hermione tried not to stare at his muscled chest as he dropped a piece of scrambled egg on himself. "Besides, the eggs are ready! Let's eat, and then I'll decide which of us is going to be dressed or undressed."

_Merlin_, Hermione thought again, she wasn't used to this kind of conversation. Ron was more of a 'let's just have sex' kind of guy and wasn't much for sexy banter over breakfast. As Draco leaned over to turn off the stove, Hermione tried to stop herself from looking at his behind. She was not successful. She did manage to lift her eyes slightly just in time for him to turn around. This didn't help, now she found herself staring at his crotch.

She felt her face turning red as Draco placed a plate of eggs and bacon in front of her. _Stop it Hermione_, she scolded herself, _it's just a dream, you'll wake up soon._ She certainly hoped so anyway. She wasn't sure how much longer she could do this.

"What's wrong?" he asked. "Aren't you hungry?"

"Oh yes, of course," she said, starting to eat.

Draco was still staring at her quizzically. "Are you sure you're not still mad? We can talk about it if you want."

"No, I'm sure I told you how I felt last night," she said.

"You sure did," he said with a grin.

"I'm just stressed out," she said finally. She needed to turn his thoughts away from sex before she got herself into trouble.

"Hmm, maybe I can help," he said, pushing his plate back and standing up.

"What?" she said, alarmed. "No, it's alright!"

"No really, I don't mind," he said, coming to stand behind her.

Hermione was about to stand up and say she just needed to go for a walk outside when she felt his hands start to massage her shoulders. _Oh,_ she thought, _that felt good_. His touch was gentle enough that it didn't hurt, but strong enough that she could feel the muscles in her neck losing their tension. _This is ok, _she thought, _a massage doesn't have to lead to sex._ As soon as this thought had entered her head, she felt his fingers at the bottom of her T-shirt.

"What are you doing?" she blurted out, turning around to face him.

"I can do this better if you don't have your shirt on," he said, pulling on her T-shirt again.

"No, no, this is fine," she said, holding the sides of her T-shirt.

"Are you sure you're not mad Hermione? You're acting awfully strange. Just let me ease that tension in your neck."

This time when he went for her T-shirt, she allowed it, it was easier than arguing with a man so determined to please. So now she was sitting in her bra in Draco's kitchen eating bacon and eggs while he massaged her shoulders. _This was fine_, she thought, _as long as we don't have sex, I can face Draco in the morning._ She went back to eating her scrambled eggs.

She nearly choked when Draco bent down and placed a soft kiss at the top of her spine. She swallowed her food quickly and sat frozen as Draco trailed a string of such kisses down the back of her neck and across her shoulders. _This is wrong,_ she thought, _I shouldn't be doing this. _Hermione realised now that she had let this go too far and she didn't know how to get out of this situation. At this point, she wasn't sure that she wanted to.

By the time Draco reached for the clasp of her bra, Hermione was so hot from his ministrations, that she knew she had to stop him before she couldn't anymore. She had completely abandoned her plate of food and had closed her eyes. She was taking deep breaths, trying to calm herself down enough to get him to stop before she humiliated herself. He raised her arms gently and pulled her bra off, leaving her half naked and helpless to stop it.

He used his left hand to lift her hair and continued to kiss her neck. His right arm snaked around her body to her breast. His delicate fingers tweaked her nipple and she couldn't help the small moan that escaped her lips. She leaned into his touch, she wanted more. She knew that she would regret this when she woke up, but at that moment, she didn't care, she just wanted more of him.

She felt him turn her chair around and she knew that she should be embarrassed of him seeing her naked chest, but she wasn't, she was beyond caring. He leaned towards her and she knew he was going to kiss her. She lifted her head up, she wanted it. After what felt like an eternity, his mouth found hers. She kissed him back with a frantic impatience, tangling her fingers through his hair.

He now had both hands on her breasts and the moans coming from her mouth were constant and beyond her ability to control. Daggers of pleasure shot from his lips to hers, his hands to her breasts, right down to her centre. She knew that it would not be much longer before she came.

Suddenly, Hermione felt that now familiar feeling of being pulled backwards. It was not a gentle feeling and she felt as if she had been slammed back into her bed when it was over. She let out another moan into her pillow, realising what had just happened. She snaked a hand below her to feel how wet she was from the dream. All it took was a slight brush of her fingers to send her over the edge. She bit into her pillow, trying to keep herself quiet all the while praying that Draco was sleeping across the hall and having dreams that were completely his own.

* * *

><p>Draco woke to the sound of a muffled cry. For an instant he thought it was Diana and he started to get out bed. A moment later he remembered his dream and realised that it was Hermione. <em>Bloody hell<em>, he thought to himself as he remembered, with embarrassment, what his dream self had done. _Poor Hermione_, he thought. She had been trying to fight him and his dream self had just kept going.

_She did seem to enjoy it_, a small voice in his head said and Draco couldn't help but smirk. Hermione had been fully aware of what had happened in the dream and while she did fight it, in the end she had succumbed to his desires. He knew that she would be mortified and decided not to bring the dream up unless she did.

With a groan, Draco swung his legs over the side of the bed and rose to get dressed quickly. He needed to get to the Ministry to speak with Potter. As soon as he was dressed, he quietly opened the door to Diana's nursery. The baby was sleeping soundly in her crib, the mobile spinning magically above her. Draco leaned down to kiss her downy head before leaving the room and walking quietly down the stairs to the fireplace.

The Ministry was quiet once again as Draco stepped out of the fireplace. As he was checking in his wand, he hoped that Potter would be at work this early in the morning. He hadn't looked at the time before he had left the house, but he guessed that it was only about seven in the morning.

When Draco stepped into the Auror's office, he was glad to see a few people milling around. He would have hated to have to wait in their empty office for someone to show up. He was not as glad to see the figure currently walking towards.

"What are you doing here today Malfoy?" Weasley asked.

"I was hoping to talk to Potter about the trial, is he in yet?" Draco asked.

"Yeah, he's in the back," Weasley said, jabbing a finger behind him.

Draco thanked him and started to walk by the desks towards Potter's. As the Head Auror, he had his own private office behind all of the other cubicles. Normally, Draco would have looked around at the pictures of wanted witches and wizards or talked to people on his way by, today he had too much on his mind. Seeing Weasley made him wonder again what would happen when Ron found out where exactly Hermione was staying and whose child Diana was. He wasn't sure how much longer he would be warmly welcomed in this department.

"Malfoy, I'm assuming you want to talk about the trial?" Potter said when Draco reached his office door.

"What else," Draco said with a sigh.

"Come in and shut the door," Potter said, nodding at him.

Draco had been in Harry Potter's office many times over the last few years, it was large and many group meetings had been held inside it. Today it was empty but for Potter and the pictures of his wife and kids.

"What the fuck?" Draco said, flopping into a chair.

"I've been saying that since yesterday morning," Potter said.

"Do you know who all of those people on the Wizengamot are?" Draco asked.

"Probably not as well as you do, but I know who most of them are," Potter said with a sigh. Draco knew that his comment was not meant to be a barb at him.

"How did all of those people get elected to the Wizengamot?" Draco asked. "I don't understand how all of these people are connected like that would ever even be eligible to be on the bench, let alone have people vote for them."

"I've been trying to figure that out myself," Potter said. "It seems to have all been done behind closed doors. As you know, a council of ministry officials and retired members select who is on the Wizengamot. Trouble is, I can't seem to find the records of who was on that council at the time."

"What?" This peaked Draco's attention. As Head Auror, Potter should have access to just about ever file and record in the Ministry, even many of the restricted ones. "How is that possible?"

"The only explanation I can come up with is that those records must have been destroyed at some point," Potter said, shaking his head.

"Doesn't that sound familiar," Draco said bitterly.

"I can't believe how that trial went down. It should have been a done deal, the way you had everything set up, it was perfect."

"Well, thanks for saying so, I spent the last year working on that trial and it was all for nothing."

"Not for nothing," Potter said, shaking his head. "Something is going to come of this. We just have to figure out what that something is going to be."

"If the Wizengamot is corrupt…" Draco let his sentence trail off.

"I know," Potter said seriously. "I know."

* * *

><p>Hermione had wanted to venture into Draco's library to see if all of those books about dreams were actually there or not, but she decided to wait until Draco got back from work to start their research. That was why she was here after all, research. She decided, instead, to spend the afternoon in the beautiful nursery with Diana. She quickly finished her work for Warn and then went right into the nursery.<p>

She still couldn't believe that Draco had put all of this together for their daughter overnight. It had shocked her in the dream how wonderful it was and they had been married! Their daughter lay sleeping peacefully in the beautiful pink and black crib, Hermione wanted to play with her, but didn't want to wake her. _Their daughter_, Hermione was coming to enjoy the way that sounded in a way she never had with Ron. In truth, she thought now that she had known all along that Diana wasn't Ron's.

While she waited for Diana to get hungry and wake up, she started to look around the room more closely. In the dresser were all of the clothes that she had brought with Diana along with even more neatly folded baby clothes that Draco must have bought. She noticed with a smile that same vacuum garbage for the diapers that she had noticed in the dream. She sat down in the seating area and wondered how her life had come to this point. Even if nothing more ever came between her and Draco, she couldn't remember being happier than she was at this moment.

Hermione must have fallen asleep because hours later she was woken by a gentle touch on her shoulder. She opened her eyes to see Draco standing in front of her holding Diana, who was now awake.

"Sorry to wake you, I think she's hungry," Draco said.

"Oh Sweet Merlin," Hermione said, taking the baby from him. "Is this another dream or not?"

"No, it's not a dream," Draco said with a chuckle.

"Like you would know if it was," she mumbled.

"What was that?" Draco asked with a smirk.

"Nothing," Hermione sighed, placing a blanket over her shoulder so that she could feed Diana privately. Not that Draco hadn't seen it all this morning anyway… "Bloody hell, I might as well just ask. Did you have one of the dreams last night?"

"Why yes, yes I did," Draco said, still smirking at her.

"Quit smirking at me you bastard!" Hermione tried to be angry but found herself laughing. "It's not funny!"

"Oh no? Then why are you laughing?" Draco said with a grin.

"I'm not," she said and stopped. "We need to get down to business."

"You moved in yesterday and you already want to do that?" Draco said, raising an eyebrow at her. He looked so much like he had in her last dream that she had to suppress the shudder that ran through her body.

"Jeez, is that all you think about?" she asked. "I meant that we needed to get down the business of these dreams!"

"I fail to see the difference in what we're talking about."

"Draco!" she cried.

"Alright, alright, I'm kidding. Where do we start?"

* * *

><p>I know a lot of you guys are sick of the trial business. It is a subplot that I've added into the story to try and give it more substance, rather than just being a bunch of romantic fluff, I hope you can accept that and learn to love it!<p>

That being said, I hope that I gave you more of what you wanted in this chapter :)


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